Zwei-Handlers
by Kirjoitabls
Summary: Nora is asked to dog-sit Zwei. With Ren busy, Jaune is asked to baby-sit Nora while she dog-sits Zwei. What could possibly go wrong? Certainly not some supernatural, romantic, and completely bonkers adventure that pushes these two-and the dog- to their limits, right? (Third Genre: Adventure)
1. Gone to the Dogs

**A/N: Yes…. The title is a pun on the 'Zweihänder," fight me, I'll hit you with turkey fists.**

 **Before we begin, the AU that this takes place in (because you'll notice the jarring fact that Pyrrha is alive) has a simple change. This starts at the beginning of RWBY's and JNPR's second year. The Vytal festival happens every two years… so…. The Vytal festival happens at the end of RWBY's and JNPR's second year. Everything else is the same except the teams are older, wiser, the dance hasn't happened, and Cinder hasn't enacted her dastardly plan, and started her dust robberies a year early, (so Ruby can do her thing that gets her admitted to Beacon).**

 **Other than the… well…** _ **thing**_ **that I am placing in this story, things should follow canonically, at least progress in the way one would expect from such a change.**

 **So, I present to you….**

* * *

 _ **Zwei-Handlers**_

 _By Kirjoitabls_

* * *

 _There are a plethora of legends and fairy-tales and bedtime stories around Remnant. Stories that inspire hope, inspire fear, inspire horrible rip-offs in young adult novels and animated feature films._

 _There's one about Maidens that wield powers related to a season. There's one about warriors with eyes that glint of silver, that destroy legions of monsters with a look. There's one about a red-eyed, pale-skinned witch, who at her heart begets the creatures of Grimm. There's one about interdimensional beings, who watch our every move, and proceed to leave 'likes' and 'comments' based off of their opinion of our lives._

 _Yet one of the oddest of these tales has got to be of the Beast and the Two Trainers. The original story drones on for longer than necessary, so I'll give you the abridged version. Once upon a time there was a mythical Beast of Black and White…. With trace amounts of Gray…. And a little bit of Grey… But mostly Black and White. While the Beast was powerful, it was docile until a threat awoke its power. Scared, it released it without abandon, threatening everyone and everything around it. Its sense of the danger influenced it; its fearful instinct over-rode its docile consideration of the world around it: it was out of control._

 _Then, from the woodwork, came two warriors who were able to train the beast. One was weak, but had a powerful mind and soul. Another one was impetuous, but had strength and heart. Together, with the beast, they conquered the evil that loomed over the world._

 _Some say that the "beast's" spirit still looms throughout the ages, possibly either being inherited by like-animals, or simply being immortal, and changing shape. Some say the power of the beast will be needed again, and once more, two heroes will need to arise to tame the beast, and stop the evil from attempting what it desired those many millennia ago._

Ozpin took a sip of coffee. _Of course, it's just a fairy tale. It can't possibly be true…_

* * *

"Huaaaagh!" Jaune screamed shrilly, filling the colosseum with girlish resonance. In spite of it sounding pathetic, the strike that followed from the battle cry pushed down Dove's guard, leaving him open for a shield bash. Dove's aura took a hit, with Jaune still fully in the green. Nora found herself smiling.

Her fearless leader was indeed fearless, and his tactics were without equal. They had the greatest leader in all of Beacon! But when it came to his fighting… well… he was Jaune.

But now he was kicking Dove's butt! Okay… maybe not wiping the floor with him like she could… let alone Ren and (ohmigosh) Pyrrha, but Jaune was holding his own against CRDL strongest fighter! The improvement was vast from when he first started sparring a year ago.

Nora turned to her team-mate and fellow girl Pyrrha Nikos. She had the biggest smile on her face, as if she was at her wedding or…. Well, Nora wouldn't find it surprising if Pyrrha was imagining her wedding. Nora didn't know if Jaune was socially dense or not interested or simply confused but Pyrrha's crush on Jaune was so apparent just in her _eyes_ , that it took every…. fiber… of her… being… to not start playing romantic jazz whenever the two were talking together. Well…. Her every fiber wasn't enough: she had Ren to keep her in control.

She then turned to Ren, who was also nodding in approval of their leader's improvement. Ren had been there for her this whole time, and now with two more people on his belt, he continued being the level-headed person she knew and lov- _LIKED! LIKED! AS A FRIEND!_

Nora organized her hectic head and proceeded with that train of thought… with the natural and true alterations of course. Ren was there when Jaune felt overwhelmed and Pyrrha was off personally training. He was there for Pyrrha when she felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of being "the Invincible Girl," and how she had to keep fit, and maintain composure, and look pretty for Jaune even if he didn't seem to notice.

Ren was the same to those two as he was to her all those years. Both being orphans, they gravitated towards each other. Nora was vocal and loud and none of the other foster kids wanted to bother with her. Ren was shy, quiet, and introspective, and no one bothered to socialize with him.

Then the two spoke… or Nora spoke to him. And the rest is history.

And now, their history extended to two other people in their "family." She would follow Jaune to the ends of the earth… or maybe Haven on foot if that was necessary. Pyrrha was the sister she never had, and as much as she initially refused her encouragement of "girl talk," she eventually gave in and they were totes besties! I mean, everything Pyrrha had to "confess" was worn on her sleeve, nothing she said surprised her. Except for the fact she unlocked Jaune's aura and that he faked his transcripts… though then again that should have been obvious, considering her leader's initial performance.

Other than her feelings for Jaune, Pyrrha didn't have much of anything juicy to say. Despite her celebrity status, all she really partook were annoying fans, annoying sponsorships, and fighting, and she NEVER described the latter that well. It was almost as if her battles were just events rather than _experiences_. Nora loved Pyrrha, but by OUM was she boring when it came to talking about fights.

Nora loved the thrill of battle. The adrenaline. The sweat. The grip on Magnhild as she swung it! Oh! She loved the descriptions of battle as Blake enjoyed her smut!

Speaking of Blake, Team RWBY was also… well, she wouldn't call them part of her immediate family like she would Ren, Jaune, and Pyrrha…. But they were like cousins… not truly "family-family" but she would certainly be lying if they weren't important to her. They more so interacted with Jaune and Pyrrha, but they weren't above tossing food into each other's mouths… well, Yang was always game.

She was mentally getting distracted… again. She needed to watch and root for her leader! Nora returned her attention to the fight to find it was already over.

"The victor is Jaune Arc, of Team JNPR!" Professor Goodwitch declared, "impressive improvement from last year, Mr. Arc. I hope to see you continue improving as the years move on." She gave a rare smile, "and Dove, while you certainly fought well. There are ways to improve… first, your stance could use some work, second…"

Nora was bored already. She just wanted to get to the next fight.

"…as for you Jaune. While you have improved be sure to not rely on your massive aura pool… some Grimm can tear through such rigid defense."

"Yes ma'am," Jaune replied.

"Well, duel over. A hand for our duelists."

Pyrrha violently applauded as Ren gave a respectful mid-speed clap, Nora….

"WOOOOOOOO JAUNE! YOU GOT IT BRO! NEXT TIME YOU GO AGAINST HIM DOVEY YOUR LEGS ARE GONNA BREAK!"

Dove's face paled a bit as Glynda gave Nora a dirty look. "Jaune… please ignore your team-mate's advice."

"Duly noted," Jaune sighed, giving his team-mate that award winning smile and amicable shake of the head.

Nora couldn't help but laugh a bit as she sank back to her chair. Ren gave her the classic look of _NORA!_ While Pyrrha just blushed and tried to ignore her instinctively.

Ahh… her family.

* * *

Yang was lifting weights, and Ruby and Weiss were out shopping. It was time to lay on her bed, pick up a good book and….

"Woof."

Blake hated that dog so much.

It wasn't because she was a cat faunus… that would be racist. She hated the dog's drool. She hated how the dog looked at her. She hated how it tried to sniff in her bow drawer: Yes… Blake had more than one bow.

Last year she had been tagging White Fang activity non-stop, in some desperate attempt at redemption and uncovering some evil criminal scheme… and that just led to trouble. As much as it pained her to admit it, she lacked the resources to find answers, at least not without waiting for some kind of move. They made head-way with their mission to Mountain Glenn, but there were still many unanswered questions.

But sometimes, a question will answer itself…

"Woof"

LIKE WHEN CAN THIS DAMN DOG GO BACK TO PATCH?!

She just wanted to relax! To enjoy a book! But noooo, this stupid dog had to stare at her with those stupid dopey eyes, bark those stupid barks, and just…. EXIST! She just… wanted to grab it and punt it out the window.

But then Ruby and Yang could kill her. She could possibly take them on individually, but together… she'd be better off reuniting with Adam.

She sighed, while she _could_ move to some silent nook in the library, but that would be surrendering to the dopey, stupid corgi! No! She would stay in her rightful domain, whether this dog likes it or…

"Woof"

"GAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Blake exclaimed, her shrill shriek of disapproval leaking through the door and extending throughout the adjacent corridor. Her amber eyes turned towards the dumb corgi, filled with instinct-fueled hate. "If you weren't dear to my partner and leader, I'd brutally murder you, go to a taxidermist, have you stuffed, and then light you on fire!"

Zwei just innocently panted at Blake's abusively violent threat. It didn't cower, it didn't even show a sign of even recognizing the malice in her voice.

Blake, attempting to scare the dog off, leaned in to further solidify its death-glare.

Zwei licked her face.

Blake immediately jumped up to Yang's bunk, her eyes widened in indignation as the stupid dog continued staring with that innocent panting and the occasional…

"Woof!"

Blake was going to tear her bow off, then tear her ears off, and then tear her hair out. Why couldn't this stupid dog just… make itself scarce? Be quiet? Let Blake imagine that she didn't have to share a room with a dog?

There was suddenly a harsh knock on the door. Only one person Blake knew would knock so hard. _Yang must've forgotten her keys again… but I thought she wouldn't be done working out until another hour…_

Blake was about to answer the door until she realized that meant she would have to share a floor with…. _It!_

 _Maybe if I move fast enough, it won't touch me. That son of a bitch is not allowed to touch me EVER AGAIN!_

Blake, with the finesse of a ninja, jumped from Yang's bunk and landed on the floor without making a sound. She quickly slinked to the door and twisted the knob. Whoever needed to use the door, they can do it themselves. She then lurched in a black blur back onto Yang's bunk, and gave an annoyed look at Zwei, who seemed to have not moved, except for that stupid face looking DIRECTLY. AT. HER!

Suddenly, the door burst open as an orange haired lady wielding a massive hammer jumped dramatically into RWBY's room. "I heard the screaming! Where's the fight?" Nora yelled; vicious desire permeating her voice. "I haven't had a challenge in days!"

Blake blankly stared at her neighbor in shock. Nora's face darted around the room, looking for something to whack with her oversized mallet. That was when her eyes fell upon the foul creature.

"OUM MY MONTY IS THAT A DOG!?"

Nora then dashed in a pink blur, and Blake's vision finally focused on see the hammer-wielder, with Magnhild collapsed and sheathed on her back, picking up the dog and twirling around with it like a tornado.

"He's So Cute!" Nora exclaimed, stopping her twirling and started snuggling it with her face. The dog licked her cheek with reckless abandon. "What's his name?"

Blake sighed, "Zwei."

"Is he yours?"

Blake gave a disdainful guffaw, "hell no! It's Ruby's and Yang's mutt! I just have to live with that stupid thing!"

"Oh, don't be such a sourpuss Blakey! Why would you hate such a cute widdle doggy…." Suddenly Nora's eyes grew wide, "…oh."

"THAT'S NOT WHY I HATE THE DOG!" Blake seethed, she didn't need to ask what Nora was thinking, "it's just… annoying, and smelly… and… dopey."

Nora laughed, "Aw sorry, I didn't mean to assume the fact that he was a male in your estrogen-filled palace was why you hated Zwei, just the thought popped into my head!" _Wait… what? Does she not know I'm a cat faunus?... I thought all of Team JNPR knew… or at least Jaune and Pyrrha._

"Besides, Ren tells me NEVER to try to touch your adorable ears! But this little pooch just LOVES having them scratched. Is that right? Is-tha-righ-lil-poochy? Awwwww…" _Okay, she knows._

Blake watched as Nora snuggled and pet the dog as the putrid abomination just lapped up the attention. Suddenly, an idea flashed within the faunus's mind. She knew she didn't live in a cartoon, but she now understood the lightbulb metaphor.

"Hey, Nora. Why don't you take the dog over to your room and dog-sit it until either Yang or Ruby comes back? You clearly love the…"

Before Blake could finish her paragraph, Nora gently placed the dog on the ground and started hopping up and down in Blake's face. "Ooooh, can I? CAN I?" Suddenly she stopped hopping, "wait… are you even allowed to send the dog somewhere else?"

"When the leader is absent from the room, equal power is divided amongst its occupants, and I am the only occupant of this room." Blake smiled, "you can say I'm queen of this castle." _Nailed it._

Nora squeed, "ohmigosh thank you Blake! Zwei will be taken great care of, and it will be so much fun!" In a pink blur, both Nora and the barking menace was gone from the room. Blake heaved out a relieved sigh.

She laid down into her bed and opened her book. She let the poetic words of the novel fill her mind. The scenarios, the characters, the intrigue, all that artistic vision seeped within her and let her drown out the chaotic world of Beacon and Remnant. She no longer bore the burden of her sins, she no longer held to the worries of tomorrow. There was only the story, and the characters. She was no longer aware of herself, but Blake was smiling in content.

Suddenly, the door opened.

"Hey Blake, how's it… why are you in my bed?"

Blake realized she hadn't left Yang's bunk.

"Uh…." Blake raked her brain for an appropriate answer.

"You know," Yang said, wiggling her eyebrows, "if you were trying to tell me something, you should've dressed in your sexy little yukata…"

Black sighed, "no," she seethed," I was trying to get away from your stupid mutt!"

"Aw, Blake!" Yang pouted, "why do you got to hate on Zwei all the time! I mean… I get it, he's a dog. You're…."

"THAT'S NOT!..."

"…not really an affectionate person and dogs are very affectionate." Yang finished, smiling knowingly.

Blake grit her teeth in frustration. Yang was not witty, she relied on shock and puns, but damn did she know how to fluster her partner.

Yang then looked around the room. "Where is Zwei…." She then gave a stern glare to the girl in her bed, "Blake… what did you do?"

Blake sighed, "Nora came in and started doting on the dog. I allowed her to take it to her room to get it out of my hair."

"Oh, that's nice of…." Yang suddenly paused, her eyes turning red, "YOU GAVE ZWEI TO NORA? OF ALL PEOPLE?"

Blake was not intimidated by her partner's anger: she was a kitten compared to Adam. "What's wrong with Nora?"

Yang blinked and her eyes returned to lilac… though there was a small reddish tint to them. "Nora is a reckless, crazy, over-energized, childish, and stronger than she realizes!" Yang yelled, "she could unwittingly hurt Zwei!" Yang started pacing the floor, "I can only imagine, 'hey Zwei! Fetch the grenade!'"

"Yang, you're over-reacting. Nora may be all those things, but you and Ruby share those two traits, and Zwei is fine…"

"I'm not over-re-yang-ting!..."

"Really, even in this unnecessary distress you make a pun?"

"When I make puns, I'm serious, Blake. That's why they call me the punisher!"

"Why would they call you the puni?- Pun-isher. I hate you so much sometimes."

"Not as much as I hate you for giving our dog away to Nora! She could be anywhere with him, and he could be so scared."

"Zwei survived Mountain Glenn, he can survive someone as innocent as Nora."

"You don't know that! He was with us at Mountain Glenn!"

Blake sighed, "look, most likely Nora is right next door in her room. You can just check up on…"

Before Blake could finish her sentence, Yang had already bolted out the door, violently knocking on Team JNPR's door.

Blake shrugged and returned to her book. Hopefully Nora could convince Yang for a little more time with Zwei… or maybe Nora could adopt it and make it live away from RWBY's room forever. That would be great.

* * *

"So, Ren, are you going to be gone the whole long weekend?"

"I should be back by Monday night," Ren stated, giving Jaune a genial smile, "just take care of Nora for me, will you?"

"You know, I know you aren't… well… like that, but why aren't you bringing Nora with you? You two do everything together."

Ren sighed, "I don't know much about who my family was and why they left me or died before I could form any memories of them…" his head was bowed, "but this village seems to hold some answers. I would love to bring Nora along, she keeps me grounded and away from introspecting too much, but this is something I need my full focus on while I'm there. I hate to say it," he gave another sigh, "I wouldn't have time to manage her antics."

"I understand," Jaune nodded, "you know, you can take Pyrrha, just to keep you company. She certainly will not stand…"

"This is something incredibly personal to me, Jaune. It's why I've only told you."

"Because I'm second only to Nora… and Nora would want to tag along and stop you."

"Exactly. I must do this alone."

"You know, you never have to do things alone. I learned that lesson a while back." Jaune put his hands on Ren's shoulder, then patting it before retracting his hand.

"I'm not saying I have to do it fully alone… I just need a clear mind and a clear focus…"

Jaune gave a deep breath, "Pyrrha is going with you."

"What?"

"She has nothing better to do this weekend, I asked her… she of course used it as an opportunity to try to encourage me to ask her out."

"You can't keep leading her on forever, Jaune."

"I know… I know… I just, don't know how I feel about her, you know?"

"Trust me," Ren looked at the ground, "I know."

"I know you know," Jaune gave Ren a knowing look, "women, right?"

"Women."

Jaune felt his scroll start to vibrate, he picked it up to see, Yang?

"Hey Vomit Boy! Where the hell is Nora?"

"Nora?" Jaune asked, turning to Ren. His team-mate sighed, "what did she do this time Yang?"

"It's not what she's done, it's what she MIGHT do! She has my dog!"

Jaune and Ren again exchanged looks. "You have a dog?" Jaune asked. "I don't think that is legal under Beacon's room-and-board regulations." Ren added.

"It doesn't matter! Dr. Oobleck thinks it's cool! Anyways, Nora has my dog, and I don't know where Nora is! And Ruby is now calling me asking her to meet up with them shopping so they could ask for my input, and I DON'T want to tell my baby sister that her dog is in the hands of a hammer-wielding maniac!"

Jaune looked to Ren, wondering if he would take offense to her best friend being called that. His face was as impassive as ever.

"We'll find her and your dog, don't worry." Jaune hung up. He turned to Ren, "do you have time or…"

"I have to pack and prepare for the journey ahead. I can help you but…"

"I'll look for Nora if you promise me to at least _ask_ Pyrrha to accompany you. I seriously don't think you should take this journey alone, even if I understand not with Nora."

Ren nodded. "Deal."

Jaune returned to his scroll and dialed Nora's number. She didn't pick up… she was notorious for never picking up, often too distracted by something to feel the vibrating or her cheery ringtone. However, Jaune always had leader privileges: Scroll-Tracker! Due to a certain incident with a certain cat-faunus, leaders were then granted the ability to track the scrolls of all of his or her team-mates. Agreed, a person could just leave their scroll behind, but with everything being operated via scroll these days, it would be a pain in the ass to go by without one.

So… by the power invested in him by the Ozpin, the Great and Powerful, he tracked Nora's scroll!.. It seemed more epic in his head.

Nora was located in the south-side of Beacon, where the Vytal fairgrounds would be at the end of the year. Jaune nodded and hurried in that direction. The sooner she can ascertain the safety of Yang's dog, the sooner he could ascertain the safety of his crown jewels… And the Arcs never wore jewelry.

In amongst the students frolicking in the sun-kissed park, Jaune found Nora near the center of it, aiming the collapsed Magnhild up in the air and in front of her…

"Zwei! C'mon boy! Fetch the grenade!"

"NOOOOO!" Jaune screamed as Nora shot the grenade up in the air, watching the tiny corgi bound towards the flying capsule, leaving its deadly pink trail.

"RAAAAAAAA!" Nora finished, giving Jaune an innocent smile. "Jaune! It's so great to see you! Ready for a long weekend?"

"Nora!" Jaune said, out of breath, "you….. fired a…. grenade at… a dog…. In a crowded park!"

"What?" Nora's eyes widened in shock and worry, until it relaxed and returned to her giddy smile. "Oh! That?" She gave a raspberry, "those are dummy grenades silly! I use those to practice my shots without having Professor Goodwitch scream at me for breaking the training room again! You need to have more faith in me, Jaune! I would never…" the dog returned, holding a capsule in its mouth as it plopped it on the ground, "… hurt such a wuvable wuvly thing as this doggy!" Nora picked up Zwei and propped it up onto Jaune's face. He had to admit… the dog was pretty adorable.

"His name is Zwei and he's my best friend, behind Ren of course." Nora smiled, "and Pyrrha and you as well, since, you know, you and your partner are kinda tied, so… third best friend!"

"What about Team RWBY?"

Nora gave another raspberry, "they're friends, but they aren't besties like my team-mates are! Nor are they as adorable as this little thing right here… though maybe Blake would be if she tried…"

"Okay okay!" Jaune stated before Nora said anything unintentionally racist. "I get it…. Zwei huh?" Jaune placed his hand on the corgi's head and gave it a little ruffle. The dog licked its lips in comfort and gave a contented sigh. He then used both of his hands to scratch behind the ears, making the dog pant in delight, and give a soft happy yelp.

"Isn't he great?" Nora placed the dog down as it started to circle around the duo, yipping happily.

"Yeah… he's a cute dog. We'll have to return him to Team RWBY though when they come back from their shopping trip."

"Aww… do we have to!" Jaune gave a somber nod "Oh! We need to introduce him to Pyrrha and Ren!"

Jaune paused internally. _If Nora goes to see Ren now, she'll see him packing, and that would cause unnecessary drama. Think, Jaune… what would Spruce Willis do?_

"Uh… they can meet him later! It would be a shame to waste such a perfect day by spending a minute of it cooped up inside!"

Nora paused and looked at Jaune with his intense eyes. He felt his soul being pulled out of his pupils and into the black hole of Nora's gaze. They stood like that for a good ten seconds as Zwei humorously stared at them in the background.

"You. Are. RIGHT!" Jaune sighed in relief, "Let me call Ren and Pyrrha and tell them to come down here!" Jaune face-palmed. "We can have a team bonding day before the weekend! Oh Jaune you have the best ideas ever!"

 _Yeah…_ Jaune internally lamented, _yeah I do._ Before Jaune could do anything, his own scroll started vibrating. He picked up to see it was Pyrrha.

"Is that Pyrrha? Great! Ask her if she's with Ren! You know… not with-with Ren, not that I would have a problem with it if she was with-with Ren…."

Jaune breathed deeply, "Hello Pyrrha. What's up?"

Pyrrha looked a bit confused, "So, Ren asked to accompany him on this… personal mission of his? Um… should I go? I mean, I normally travel light so packing isn't a problem, and I'd love to help but… why isn't he taking Nora?"

Jaune paused as he looked up and saw Nora giving Jaune a questioning glare. "Uh…" Jaune felt nervous as his two female team-mates stared at him from different angles. "Well… I thought… it would be a good team exercise! Yes!" Jaune pointed in the air as his excuse flowed through him. As team leader, he would bite the bullet for Ren. "You see, Ren wanted to take Nora, but I thought… y'know, why don't we switch around partners, become more integrated as a team… I mean, you and I Pyrrha, are pretty close. As well as Ren and Nora, and while we are certainly friendly with one another, I made it my goal this year for our closeness to be universal. Yes!" Jaune laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his head, "I just… didn't know how to go about it until Ren told me of that mission he was going to take, so… yeah… sorry for it being so abrupt?" He shrugged his shoulders giving a nervous smile.

Pyrrha chuckled lightly and gave Jaune a sheepish smile, "oh… you know I like all of your ideas, you could've told me sooner. I was just worried it could cut into our individual training sessions…" Jaune blushed a little from the obvious flirting.

"Don't worry, once you're back we'll start those again." Jaune reaffirmed, "until then, maybe you can enjoy the company of someone more competent."

"Jaune!" Pyrrha chastised, "what did I say about talking down to yourself?"

"It was a joke! It was a joke!... Though Ren is a better fighter and has better aura control than me, you can't deny that…"

Pyrrha sighed. "Just… have some more confidence in yourself Jaune!" She gave off that kindly smile of hers, "see what I see in you."

Jaune blushed once again. "Thanks Pyr… I'll um…." He started to rephrase, "Keep in contact Pyrrha, Ren isn't one to leave status reports."

She gave a mock salute, "got it!"

"Good-bye Pyrrha, good luck!" He flashed her a smile as he hung up. He then looked at Nora.

She was standing with her arms akimbo, tapping her foot. Next to her was Zwei, who was sitting down in the grass as if HE was also expecting an explanation.

"You know, if Ren wanted me to go with him at first, he would've told me THEN told you."

Jaune rarely ever saw logical Nora, but when she arrived, it was scary. It was as if the bubbly lady was a walking lie detector; being dishonest with her had never ever worked. Ren told him that simply avoiding telling her anything was the best chance to keep a secret from her.

"Uh… well…"

"It has something to do with his family, doesn't it? Something that I… _distract_ him from!"

"Well… um… I wouldn't say _that…_ "

"But he did, didn't he?"

Nora wasn't crying, but the hurt in her usually joyful eyes were apparent. Even Zwei started to whimper.

"Ugh, I HATE it when he does this! We're sooo close, yet he can't trust me with anything personal to HIM! I always tell him EVERYTHING! My fears, my desires… well not all of them… but I tell him so much about myself, but whenever it's something close to him, he pushes me away! Like…. Like…" Nora's hands started shaking, "UHG! I just can't stand it when he does this!"

"Erm… Nora… we are out in public." Jaune was starting to notice eyes glancing at Nora's minor tantrum. Normally there was Ren to calm her down when she got upset about something… but she was upset about Ren, and this wasn't really her typical tantrum… she was clearly emotionally hurt.

"I DON'T CARE!" Sparks flew out of Nora, scaring Zwei and causing him to run off.

"Zwei!" Jaune called out, noticing the fleeing dog. Nora was important… but so was his life… so he turned around and pursued the corgi.

"Huh?" Jaune heard from behind him, "doggy! I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you! Come back!"

The dog rushed around the park grounds all the way to the cliff-face that overlooked the Emerald Forest. Jaune felt relief when the dog stopped near the edge, simply looking at the view. All he had to do was…

Then Zwei was propelled by a loose launcher… the ones used during initiation. Zwei flew and disappeared as a black speck as it descended into the trees.

Jaune was speechless. He felt that he would have to say good-bye to his sensitive bits: castrated courtesy of Yang Xiao Long.

"DOGGY!" Nora screamed from behind him, "We have to get him!"

"How?" Jaune exasperatedly asked, "you know how large that forest is?"

"It doesn't matter, a Valkyrie never leaves a Doggy in the woods!"

Before if Jaune could ask if that was an actual family saying….before realizing she had no idea what her family was… Nora grabbed him and flung him over her shoulder like he weighed nothing, and jumped onto the same pad that launched Zwei into the wilderness.

"Don't worry Doggy! Jaune and Nora are coming to rescue you!" The unstable launch pad flung them into the wilderness, and those nearby could hear what could be described as a harmony between a ferocious battle cry, and a girly scream.

* * *

 **A/N: And there you have it! The introduction to this… admittedly weird premise. I fear I made Blake a bit OoC, but, for the sake of a Humor story, the idea that a dog would just send her over the edge at least seemed like a funny concept.**

 **Follow! Fave! Review! (All opinions welcome… as long as they attack my writing and not me) Eat a Well Balanced Breakfast… at Any Time of Day!**


	2. Zwei Unleashed

**A/N: Nice! I'm glad my contribution to the woefully under-nourished Jaune X Nora (outside-of-harem) anthology was well received! I mean, I don't necessarily "ship" them. When Pyrrha bit the dust, I didn't scream, "YES! Now all I need is Ren to die as well, and the One True Ship, Named after a Ship (Nora's Arc), will Sail on the Tears of Arkos and Renora fangirls, muahahaha!" I simply think, at least in terms of fanfiction, it's an interesting pairing to explore. Not just for the humor aspects of it, but for the human ones as well.**

 **Also, the idea of them dog-sitting Zwei together sounded hilarious to me… then in the planning phases I went overboard and gave Zwei… well… you'll see.**

 **Also, I forgot to add this last time: I don't own RWBY (in case you were wondering). That goes to Rooster Teeth, and its conception to Monty Oum.**

* * *

There was a scent in the air. A scent that seemed alien yet had an almost… nostalgic familiarity. It was bothering him all day. He awoke and felt it, but shrugged it off as the black-bowed one sneaking in another raw fish. She hid it well, that ninja, but Zwei could always smell it.

However, it wasn't just a scent. It was a _feeling_ : an instinct. When the four were in classes, Zwei could only whimper and pout, and pace around the enclosed space. Should he confront it? Should he run from it? Where was this it even coming from and what is it? These were questions too introspective for a simple dog such as himself.

In fact, he could only think of one answer for all of those questions: _woof_ , which roughly translates to: _I don't know._

When the door opened he hoped to confide in his protectors, but it was only the black-bowed one again. Still, he thought she would suffice, as he tried to let her know of the warnings…. And she seemed to get the point, because she started acting clearly disturbed.

It was then that _she_ arrived. He never saw her before, but there was something… that drew him towards her. It might be the fact she literally drew him towards her with a massive embrace, but there was something more. It was similar to the scent from earlier… but less dangerous, more nostalgically _inviting_. It made him forget the worries that shivered down his hackles earlier.

And then _he_ showed up. He resonated with the same energy, but it felt different. The girl was like a roaring sun while he was like a soothing moon, providing protective light against the forces of darkness. Something felt…. _Right._

But then, they started arguing, or the girl started to lose the friendly vibe. Zwei started wondering if he misread her, and when she blew up in an electrical rage, his first instinct was to flee.

Now, as he whimpered underneath an unfamiliar canopy of trees, he realized it was wrong to run… but it was too late. He was lost, and vulnerable, forever.

The feeling of foreboding returned, the scent of dread flooding all his senses. He felt that something terrible was coming…

And he felt something familiar yet foreign surge within him.

* * *

After initiation, Jaune promised himself that he would never, EVER, fling himself into a forest ever again. Even with his aura unlocked, and his combat skills greatly improved, he never truly came up with a "landing strategy" outside of being saved by a well-aimed spear.

And here he was, being flung once again into the green hellscape of the Emerald forest, and his landing strategy was… holding on for dear life to Nora. He just made sure his hands weren't in any place that would be deemed ungentlemanly…. He already lost his general-manliness anyway: Jaune knew how he screamed.

He felt Nora's body reposition itself. "Hey Jaune? Can you hand me Magnhild please?"

"Huh? Oh yes!" Jaune, his upper body facing Nora's back, unhitched her weapon and maneuvered his hands passing it over to hers… while still trying to maintain his grip on Nora. For a klutz like Jaune, it was an impressive display that words couldn't describe.

"Thank you!" Piped Nora.

"So… what exactly are you going to?..."

Jaune was interrupted by an explosion, then multiple explosions, then the feeling of pink smoke starting to choke his lungs… then impact.

Jaune flopped off of Nora's back into a pile of soft dirt displaced by a gargantuan crater in the forest. While the landing was soft there was soil shoved right into his mouth and little bit of his nose. He pushed himself up, gagging out all grainy mushy earth shoved into his face.

He turned around to see Nora standing upright and smiling, "softer ground: softer fall!" She declared simply, "now stop eating the dirt! There's no time for a snack, we gotta find Zwei!" In a pink blur, Nora was out of the crater and already darting around through the trees.

"Zwei?" "Doggy?" "Bestie?" "Don't Ren away from me…. I MEAN DON'T RUN AWAY FROM ME! Not the… other word."

At any other time Jaune would've groaned at the pun. However, the nature of said pun as well as the nature of their situation did not warrant a face-palm, it warranted a calm, collected, and in-control leader.

"Uh… Nora?"

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT REN OKAY!" The bomber pivoted suddenly giving an intense and worried glare towards Jaune. If he wasn't used to it, he would be terrified. Thankfully, it just scared him.

"I… uh… that's not what I meant." Jaune raised his hands in a 'calm down' gesture, "if we're going to find Zwei, we're going to have to do this intelligently. We can't just dart around the forest, it's too massive, and we might attract Grimm since we are… well…. worried about a dog, which I can assume is a negative emotion?" Jaune shrugged his shoulders. "So, we need a plan, and we need to stick together."

Nora's face shifted into embarrassed understanding, "oh! Yes, uh… so… what's the plan fearless leader?" She smiled (albeit being visibly forced) and gave a salute. Jaune would have to talk to Nora about this angst stuff later, right now, there was a dog (and his own life) to save.

"Well, we used the same launch pad, which meant it fired us in the same direction as Zwei went, however, the both of us with our weapons are much, MUCH heavier than that little corgi." Nora nodded, clearly listening, "if the launch pad fired us north, we need to head north to at least come to his point of entry into the forest. If we can find that… then we could begin a radial search around that point. It's our best shot…."

"Understood Jaune!" Magnhild unfolded into a hammer as Nora posed dramatically, "to the North!... Uh…" she gave a sheepish grin, "which way is north?"

It was moments like these where his scroll had a compass programmed into it. He looked at it, "it's that way! The faster we get there, the less ground Zwei could cover, so let's move!"

"Aye aye captain!" Nora then pulled out of her pocket…. A Taser?

"Why do you have a Taser, Nora?" It was then Jaune realized he just asked an incredibly stupid question.

"So I can do THIS!" She said with a maniacal grin, stabbing herself with it, making her vibrate as the grin never left her face. She then grabbed Jaune, hoisted him over her shoulder again, and then jumped incredibly high into the air.

"Hold on!" Nora screamed, as she positioned the mallet of Magnhild under her feet, and, once again, Jaune screamed as he was thrust through the air with an obviously thrilled Nora.

To those observing the beautiful view of the Emerald Forest from the cliff, people would've swore to have seen a pink shooting star… that also seemed to wail like a little girl.

* * *

When Nora flew through the air, the wind in her face and the marvelous squeal of her leader slung over her shoulder, she felt the need to laugh. She was confident that, with Jaune's brain and her Nora-ness, the dog would be as good as theirs before Yang and Ruby would come back from whatever they were doing.

She also noticed that Jaune was chiseled under that baggy hoody of his. I mean, she couldn't see it, and it was covered, but when someone holds onto you for dear life, you can _feel_ the lean yet defined muscles gripping you. It almost made Nora blush… almost. Nora had very little shame to be flustered by realizing her male leader probably had a nice bod. ESPECIALLY since she went to a school for warriors, EVERYONE had a nice bod! She just never thought of Jaune having one.

 _Huh._ She thought. _Weird._

"Uh, Nora! I think I see it!"

Nora was too busy enjoying the wind in her face and the toned man gripping her, "see what?"

"Zwei's point of impact, look!" Apparently, Jaune had shifted his position on her back to simulate a piggy back ride, and was pointing to some place ahead. _Uhg! I want a Piggy Back ride!_

"Nora! Look!" Her mind snapped back out of it and followed Jaune's finger. There was a small crater, with tiny paw prints surrounding them.

"Good eye Jaune!" Nora exclaimed as she collapsed the hammer and made another giant crater to land in.

Jaune held tight this time when Nora dramatically landed in the displaced earth. She felt invigorated as the force from the ground caused vibrations up her limbs at the impact. She stood up, smiled, and turned to Jaune, whose head was pushed against her shoulder and legs wrapped tightly around her waist, "you can get off now Jaune!" She said with a smile.

Jaune looked up, his face dangerously close to hers. "Oh!" His eyes expanded as he let go of her back, backing off to give her personal space. Nora didn't mind the closeness, it's not like it meant anything.

Closeness never meant anything. All the hugs, all the times she got up in his face… it was just literal space, it meant nothing in the emotional space in which she was pushed away….

 _Nope!_ Nora corrected herself, _Grimm infested forest, cute doggy in need. Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!_

She found herself focused once more on the environment, and noticed Jaune looking at the muddy paw prints… at least, the ones that weren't blown away by Nora's landing strategy. She walked up to her leader who was surveying the landscape.

"It seemed it simply ran around this area until the mud wore off his paws, shit!" Jaune muttered, "okay, the final paw print seems to be… this one, and it's slightly out of the general… circle of pacing we can see here. Our best bet is to head this way."

Nora always enjoyed seeing her leader get… leader-y. It was just something enjoyable seeing the rather dopey and hapless knight transform into this tactically minded individual. Danger brought out the best in him, and he was doing this as if his life was on the line… for some reason.

Still, it didn't matter. Jaune would find Zwei, Nora couldn't believe anything to be truer.

"Let's head that way, then!" Nora reaffirmed, slinging Magnhild over her back and started walking that direction. She then called through the trees, "We're coming Zwei!"

"Just… stick close to me, okay? I mean… I would love to say, 'I'd hate to see you get hurt on your own,' but we both know who needs protecting…" Jaune started to mumble the last parts. Nora groaned, she understood where Jaune's lack of confidence came from, but yeesh! He didn't have to dwell on it so much!

"Aw, c'mon Jauney! Sure, your skill compared to mine is like soooo behind!" Nora saw Jaune wince, "but when it comes to those tacticy things that I could _never_ do, you're like the bestest!" Nora gave off a genuine, bright smile, "also, your battle skills have greatly improved. So if I hear you say something negative about yourself again!..." She then leaned closer, "I'm going to hug you so hard you'll barf all that negativity out of you!"

Jaune looked a mix thankful and horrified. She was used to that look.

"Also, if anything or anyone did try to hurt you… I'd break its legs faster than you can say, 'Nora! Don't break its legs!'"

"Uh… thanks…" Jaune said, "let's… get searching then."

"Onwards!" She pulled her head away from Jaune and started marching in the agreed direction. "Zwei!" "Zwei!"

Nora and Jaune walked through the forest, calling out for the corgi. While Jaune's attempts at calling for the dog were admirable, they were practically mute compared to the thunderous calls of a Valkyrie. Nora's booming voice commanded the respect of the wilds, as she climbed trees to get better views, pawed the ground looking for clues, and, of course, having her calls extend from horizon to horizon, begging her new best friend to return to her. To be with her. To remain loyal and trust her with everything he ever had because that's what friends do. They trust each other… she demanded that from R… a dog.

She demanded that from a dog.

"Nora, are you okay?" Nora whirled around to see Jaune giving him a curious look.

"Uh, yeah!" She piped up, eyes aglow, "why do you ask that? Why wouldn't I be okay? I look okay…"

"You stopped calling for Zwei and your gripping Magnhild like you want to hit something."

"Oh…uh.." Nora realized her shoes looked _really cool_ , so she looked down on them. Yep, that's why she was looking at her shoes. No other reason.

 _Oh yeah!_ "Zwei!" she called out, once again her thunderous voice bending the will of nature. _Yes, I'm just worried about Zwei! That's what's on my mind. There is no other thing on my…._

"Um… okay then, let's keep searching…" Jaune muttered, "I just… want to know if you're okay."

Nora paused at that. Jaune had NEVER seemed so genuinely curious about her. Agreed, Jaune always bonded with her on those rare occasions Ren and Pyrrha weren't around, but… was Jaune always this observant? _Wait a minute, if Jaune is this observant… how on Remnant does he not notice?… wait wait wait_

"What do you think of Pyrrha, Jaune?"

Jaune paused, "she's my partner, my closest friend, and someone I owe my life to… literally. Why did you ask that?"

"Um…" Nora had always been curious, but failed to ask because she felt this was Pyrrha's issue, she shouldn't pry. But… it just didn't make sense. Jaune was a tactical genius, and seemed to read his opponents fairly well personally. He deduced Blake was a faunus on his own, and only asked Weiss to verify his suspicions.

Jaune was observant, he was smart, so…

"Do you know what Pyrrha thinks of you?"

There was a pause in the air: an audible silence that nagged at both occupants of it. Time slowed down as the small infinity between seconds became more apparent.

Jaune gave a heavy sigh, "Yes. I do."

"THEN WHY HAVEN'T YOU ASKED HER OUT YET?" Nora exclaimed, surprisingly louder than how she was calling for Zwei.

Jaune visibly cowered under the impressive assault of sound waves, "I feel you're trying to change the subject…"

"Who cares about how I'm doing and feeling? This is a subject that has been looming around since day one! WHY…"

"Shush!" Jaune's hand covered Nora's mouth. Nora fought the urge to lick it like she would with R… a certain childhood friend that she had no feelings for. "Do you hear that?"

Nora focused and heard it, the crackling of grass, the shifting of foliage… Grimm. But there were no snarls of Beowulves, Ursai, Creeps, and Boarbatusks… but not the hiss of a King Taijutu… It was… more of a clicking.

When Jaune removed his hand Nora whispered, "Deathstalkers…"

"Shh… maybe if we're really quiet… wait..." a Deathstalker appeared in front of them… "we were shouting a lot earlier weren't we?"

Nora gave a sheepish shrug, "well, yeah!" She gave a weak smile as she watched Jaune pull Crocea Mors from its sheath. "That's kinda what we were doing for the past… I dunno, how long were we out here?"

"An hour I think?" Jaune and Nora's gaze returned to the descending Deathstalker, its pinchers clicking with the desire to tear the two apart.

"Don't worry Jauney, it's initiation, but smaller! The Deathstalker is smaller, we only have each other, this will be…."

Just as Nora was about to finish her thought, two more Deathstalkers came out from the brush, both larger from the one that just appeared.

"Okay…" Nora said, her smile starting to fade, "well! We're second years, we can handle…."

Two more appeared, also larger than the previous.

"Five Deathstalkers…" Nora laughed nervously. "Hey Jaune, you ready to kick some butt?"

Jaune was shaking in his boots, "uh… Nora, we should probably run."

"Oh don't be silly Jaune, they aren't so…"

Jaune leaped into Nora as she missed one of the massive stingers dove straight for where she stood.

Collapsed over on another, Nora looked into Jaune's eyes now incredibly close. She nodded, "okay we'll run!"

Nora pushed Jaune up and flung him over her shoulder for the third time today. She then about-faced and headed away from the now aggressively pursuing Scorpions of Darkness. Her feet tingled with electricity as she dashed through the foliage. The weight of Jaune, who was oddly not screaming as loudly as he usually did, felt like nothing as her body surged with the energy to escape their predators.

Everything was fine, though! Nora could easily outrun something as sluggish as the… quickly scurrying Deathstalkers. Nope! Everything was still fine! She was Nora! She could do almost anything! Yes! That's what she told herself because it was true!

"Nora! Look out!"

"Huh?" Nora felt something poke at her foot, tripping her up. "Gah!"

Nora tumbled into the ground, flinging Jaune and Magnhild out of her grasp. She watched them tumble away from him. "Jaune!" Nora cried, reaching for him as she lay on the ground, her body not willing herself up.

Jaune groaned on the ground, flipping around and trying to pull himself up. Nora was going to join him until she felt that her leg was still caught on something. She turned around to see one of the Deathstalkers pinchers grasped around her foot, dragging her towards the snapping maw.

Nora, without Magnhild, could only scream. She felt powerless as she was dragged damsel-in-destress style towards her doom.

"Get away from her!" Nora heard Jaune cry as he rushed in and stabbed that Deathstalker in the face, weakening the bug's grasp. Nora scuttled away and reached for her hammer. She propped herself up to give her leader some assistance, before seeing him bashed across with the Deathstalker's other pincer.

"Jaune!" Nora cried, as she bashed two stingers coming at her with Magnhild. She pivoted to grant assistance to notice that the Deathstalkers now surrounded them. Nora grasped Magnhild tightly as her leader groaned as he weakly stood up. The Deathstalkers seemed to wait for them, as if to mock them.

This was all her fault! She scared Zwei away, and that's why they were in the woods. She was too loud and that's why the Deathstalkers found them. And she even failed at running away! She was a screw up! She not only brought herself but her dear leader in danger! This… this…

 _This is why Ren doesn't trust me with anything important!_

Nora felt indignant tears spatter her eyes as her knees started to tremble. She just wanted to crawl into a hole and die. All her life she tried to look at the positive, but she just had to face facts, she was just some bubbly fool who caused trouble. Who had temper tantrums! No wonder Ren couldn't take her seriously! No wonder NO ONE took her seriously! She was feared on the battlefield, but it was only because a child with the power of an explosion is unnerving!

"NORA!" *clang* Nora realized she was just standing with Magnhild in her hands, tears her eyes, and shaking in her knees. She looked to see Jaune blocking a stinger from colliding with her, than slashing it away. "Snap out of it! I need you!"

There was a firmness in his voice, but it had an odd friendliness to it: a concern, rather than an annoyance. She looked into Jaune's eyes and nodded, and shifted Magnhild into its launcher and started firing grenades. "You take that side, I'll take this one!"

"You got it Nora!" Jaune said, blocking and swiping at the attacks from the Deathstalkers.

Nora aimed at the ground to nick their vulnerable underbellies with explosives. She then took aim at the stingers, trying to weaken and knock them off. She missed a couple shots, those grenades trailing into the distance, but she landed a couple, bandying their tails like tether-balls.

Nora's back was to Jaune's back. "Hanging in there, boss?" Nora had to ask.

"I…. huhg!" he grunted as be blocked another attack and swiped in response. "could be doing better, but I'm alive I guess."

"That's the power of a positive attitude!" She ironically exclaimed, the tears from her freak-out still staining her eyes. Her grenades were pushing back the Deathstalkers, but none of the seemed to be falling.

She also didn't hear any dying sounds from behind her, so she assumed Jaune was having as much luck as she was. Nora felt that aforementioned "positive-attitude" start to slink away and get replaced with dread. How long could they hold out?

"Uh… Jaune, do you have a plan?" Nora asked.

"I... *grunt*… I don't know!... *grunt*… we're kind of with our backs against the wall!"

Nora, in desperation, started firing off multiple grenades. While some hit their targets, some sailed straight past them…

…and then a little black and white corgi jumped from out of nowhere to "fetch the grenade."

* * *

Jaune had seen miracles: A spear catching him before falling to his death, a blinding light that stopped a punch from his first year bully, the fact Yang survived an extreme fall after being launched in the air via make-shift watermelon hammer.

Yet nothing, NOTHING, compared to what he saw next.

He heard Nora scream, "Zwei NO!" and then a blinding swirl of white and black overtook Jaune's vision. He then heard it.

"Woof!"

The bark sent shockwaves akin to a specialized wind dust canon, and vibrated the entire area. Jaune's vision accustomed to the bright darkness and saw the Grimm shaking from the force. Somehow, he stood fine, even if the noise was quite loud.

Suddenly, a glowing grey ball started bouncing off of all the Deathstalkers, as if the monsters were bumpers and the sphere was a pinball. As the ball ricocheted off the Deathstalkers, their clicks turned into staccato squeals of pain, as light started exploding from the points of impact.

Finally the grey ball hovered overhead, and later focused to reveal a floating Zwei with glowing eyes, one white, and one black. Then, looking at the sky, he said it.

"Woof"

The glowing points of impact expanded, and the Deathstalkers shattered into black fragments. Jaune found himself alone in the clearing, well, at least not in the company of Grimm. He turned to look at Nora, who, for the first time he ever met her, was speechless.

Jaune looked up at the floating corgi and saw that its glowing gaze now met his. Jaune was not a religious man, but… well….

He was looking up at a floating dog, slightly larger than a jumbo can of tuna, that just seemed to destroy five Deathstalkers via sonic woofs and… pinball tackles?

Jaune could only imagine that there had to be _some_ higher power for something so otherworldly to have just happened.

Suddenly, he saw his white aura start to glow. He looked to his side and saw Nora's pink aura start to glow. Two beams of energy emitted from both of them and converged onto Zwei, who slowly descended, cascaded by white and pink light intermingling with the dog's grey. The glow in the dog's eye subsided, and it started to pant like a normal dog.

It then walked up to the two and whimpered, as if it wanted to be pet. With Jaune looking to see Nora still in shock, he knelt down and started scratching behind Zwei's ears. The dog hummed in contentment, then fell on its back and Jaune switched the scratching to its belly. The dog hummed and licked its lips in contentment.

After Jaune finished petting, he picked up the dog and held it in his arms. _Mission accomplished._

Nora broke the silence, "what the fuck just happened?"

It was the first time Jaune heard Nora swear.

* * *

Glynda burst into Ozpin's office, and Ozpin knew why. He was watching the events unfold from his secret cameras.

"Sir, we have some students who flung themselves into the Emerald Forest."

"I know Glynda, I'm sure they can handle it. We send first year initiates in there don't we?" Ozpin peacefully took a sip of coffee. _I'm sorry if you were hoping for more Jaune and Nora, but we do need these obligatory exposition chapters, now don't we?_

"Yes, but in the early morning. You know very well how dangerous it can get in the afternoon! We should send in an Evac team!"

"Don't worry, I can assure you they are safe." Ozpin grinned. _Yes, I just acknowledged "you," the reader. Do try to hold back your surprise._

"Don't worry? It's Jaune and Nora! While Jaune has improved immensely, he is by no means fit to survive peak Grimm times, and Nora is insanely reckless. She would just invite danger!"

"You forgot one other entity flung into the Emerald Forest, the one those two went for." Ozpin swirled his cup and took another sip. _You see, in this "AU" as you call it, my semblance is that I can commune beyond the fourth wall. So… hello._

"The dog?" Glynda deadpanned, "how does that help?"

"Glynda," Ozpin continued smiling while looking at his _occasionally annoying_ assistant in the eyes, "after what I've shown you, I thought you'd be more accepting for the possibilities of fairy tales."

"What's that supposed to…." Glynda's eyes widened, then she closed them as she pinched her nose, "you can't be serious. THAT fairy tale is true too?"

"I am surprised as you are, Glynda." _Not really_ "But it's possible that Beast and his Two Trainers are among us!"

"Jaune, Nora, and a pint-sized corgi?"

"We may not even need to find our guardian, our guardians may already be here…"

Glynda huffed, "Ozpin, for someone so wise, you're so weird… I'm sending an Evac ship for them now."

Ozpin sat at his desk, holding his coffee and wearing his smile. _Trust me, things are about to get even weirder. Are you all prepared?_ He looked at the monitor and saw a decent portion of the Emerald forest singed, burnt, and pulsating with a bizarre energy.

* * *

 **OP Zwei, activate! And you thought the silver eye thing was a silly Deus-ex-Machina! Don't worry, as OP Zwei is, there will be struggles for our main characters! Will Nora stop feeling so angsty? Will Jaune start to feel more confident? Will Zwei ever say anything other than "woof?"**

 **Until then, follow, fave, and review! Also, go snuggle with your pet if you have one… even if it's a fish.**


	3. Can You Feel the Woof Tonight?

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Her eyes opened, and a surge of re-awoken energy surged through her, but it was not her own. Some of her children have died. That was to be expected, they were always slaughtered by those holier-than-thou soul-bearers. Their blood, their intrinsic souls, fed her through the feasts of her children, and they did well, whenever some hapless fool fell into their mouths, but then some huntsman or huntress ruins it. Though… when THEY fell, their energy… their taste… oh it felt so good.

But these losses were not by some over-glorified hunter. No. It was… something else. Something she hadn't seen in many, many years.

She snarled. _It couldn't be!_ Yet it was… the anti-Grimm, a child not of her but a child of some power outside of her control.

 _Ozpin's probably sensed/seen it too… Damn man probably thought he's won! This… this is just an issue that needs to be resolved._

Salem was not one to be intimidated by the fantastical forces that are usually dormant within her realm; she witnessed many of their beginnings. When one that didn't work in her favor awoke, it was time to simply make minor alterations to her plans. Her human playthings should be able to handle it. Besides, it has just awoken. Its powers may wipe away some of her lesser servants, but nowhere near powerful enough to stop her. It just needs to be squashed quickly.

Salem hummed. She could just smell the smoke of the world burning.

* * *

Jaune and Nora didn't talk much as they walked through the forest. They didn't wish to attract more Grimm, and they had no more need to call out for Zwei, who was simply napping in Jaune's arms. The peaceful breaths of the sleeping dog added a rhythmic peace to the awkward silence as the two hunters in training walked back to Beacon.

Jaune was used to things impressing him. His over-protective parents never shared their experiences as huntsmen in order to avoid fueling his already steely determination to follow in their footsteps. They only shared the stories of those they knew in that line of work that died. Both took well-paying but domestic jobs and lived a humble life in a village, raising eight kids, seven of them daughters.

So, he never knew about aura and semblances. He never watched any fights broadcasted on television (Vytal Festivals, Mistral Regionals, Vacuo Rumbles). He never even seen Crocea Mors be used outside of decoration over the fireplace.

When he got to Beacon, everything just amazed him. Every act of skill, semblance, and sexiness… _I mean success…_ filled him with wonder. While his mind never truly stopped appreciating discovering these acts of power, it became used to the surprise, and the cooldown for returning to the plane of normalcy decreased over time. Even for something as ridiculous as a super-dog.

However, the speechless Nora was clearly not used to witnessing something so... absurd. Nora was absurdity incarnate in battle, but when something turned out to be more absurd than _her_ , Jaune could only imagine her mind swimming with confusion.

At least it kept her mind off of Ren.

Jaune smiled at that thought as he looked at the sleeping Deus-ex-Machina in his arms. He seemed so peaceful with his eyes closed. Jaune wondered if Zwei was dreaming, and if so what? Was it your typical "chasing squirrels" dream that everyone imagines dogs have, or something more… eloquent? Zwei clearly was not an ordinary dog… unless if all dogs could do what he just did… that would be something, wouldn't it?

Jaune looked at the tower in the distance, and looked at the sun. At their current pace, they should make it before dark… though before Yang and Ruby came back from their shopping trip, that was debatable. They most certainly will miss Ren and Pyrrha's departure, which means it will be Nora and he, the room to themselves.

 _If there was a time to talk to Nora about… Ren, maybe when we reconvene in the room… even if she'll try to divert it back to Zwei or… Pyrrha._

Jaune sighed. Talking about Pyrrha… well, talking about Pyrrha in the way Nora wanted him to talk about Pyrrha earlier, was complicated. Jaune definitely considered taking the next step in their relationship. It took a year, but he realized that she was doing all those things for him more than just because she was his partner, it was something more… and it made him happy and uncomfortable at the same time.

Jaune was going to follow that train of thought until he heard the hum of a small-sized bullhead engine. He looked up to see a standard team Evac ship, helmed by a pilot and accompanied by…. _Gulp._

Glynda Goodwitch.

He could already see the detention slips, the call to his parents, the reprimanding, the fact he was holding a dog that didn't belong to him. Wait… oh no! What if Glynda confiscates Zwei! Yang would totally rip off his manhood if that happened! Jaune had to think quickly. He couldn't hide the dog, Glynda already saw it. He could say he found the dog stray in the woods, but that would result in Glynda taking it anyway. He could fess up and say this was Ruby and Yang's dog, but that would get THEM in trouble while the dog was still confiscated! Wait….

"So… we found Dr. Oobleck's pet!" Jaune said, giving a nervous grin as Glynda and the bullhead landed. _Yang said something about Dr. Oobleck thinking it's cool, right! I could just push it on him!_

Glynda sighed, "I already know of Zwei, Mr. Arc. Dr. Oobleck informed me of his worth to the Mountain Glenn mission and informed of his approval for his stay… as much as it… annoyed me, Ozpin agreed."

"Oh!" Jaune said, his smile becoming less nervous, "so he's done this sort of thing before."

Glynda paused, "uh… what?"

"You know, at Mountain Glenn, you said Zwei was of worth! Clearly you're referring to…"

"He was used to track and locate the enemy base, yes." Glynda finished, "I assume that's what you were going to say? Now get on the bullhead."

Nora quietly followed Glynda's instructions, much to the deputy's confusion. Jaune followed suit, though he had something to say. "So… he never assisted in combat?"

"Not really, why do you ask? He just sniffed, found the base, and Team RWBY and Oobleck secured it before anything happened. How would a corgi assist in combat?" Glynda snorted, but it seemed forced, as if she was just trying to deny something rather than not believe it.

"Well… uh…" Jaune would've scratched the back of his head if he wasn't already holding Zwei, "no reason…"

"No reason?" Glynda and Jaune turned to Nora, whose face was still blank, yet on the verge of cracking, "no… REASON?!" Her face cracked, looking flustered. Her voice echoed throughout the bullhead to the point the pilot, with his noise cancelling headphones, grimaced from the shriek. "That… DOGGY, just…. Ate a grenade, spat it out!"

 _Hmm_ Jaune thought, _I missed that part._

"Rocketed from the explosion, freaking barked a sonic bark, then bounced around like some ping-pong ball, and then woofed again and suddenly EVERYTHING EXPLODED!" Nora didn't breath throughout that entire tirade and suddenly had to catch her breath, "then… then just… descended down after doing THAT and started acting like a NORMAL DOGGY!" Nora started pacing around the moving bullhead. "That makes no sense! THAT MAKES NO SENSE!"

After a couple heavy breaths from Nora, Glynda stated, "are you done?"

Nora sheepishly nodded and slouched down into her chair, once again becoming silent.

Glynda gave a firm glare to Jaune, and then turned to give one to Nora. "Neither of you are to discuss what that dog just did. Understood?" Jaune nodded, not wanting to cross with Glynda. "Not your team. Not Team RWBY. Not Oobleck. No one. Am I once again clear?" Jaune once again nodded.

Nora muttered, "but… what if the doggy?..."

"Zwei will not do… what he did. Just…. " Glynda heaved a sigh, "Ozpin is probably just going to call you both into his office sometime and explain what you witnessed, I…" Glynda looked frazzled, "I just don't want to deal with this right now. Just tell no one."

The assistant head-mistress then turned around, "and neither should you!" She was aggressively pointing her crop at the helicopter driver. Fear in his eyes was even visible with his gigantic sunglasses. "No problem boss… weird dogs. Never mention weird dogs."

She gave a nod, seemingly satisfied. "Good." She turned to her students, "listen, I get that you are… confused, but I assure you that Zwei will not act out, due to the fact that you… uh… 'interacted' with him."

Jaune raised an eyebrow and Goodwitch, "interacted?"

"Ozpin's job to explain! Not mine!" Goodwitch sighed out. "I can't believe I have to deal with this. And I thought the most difficult part of this job would be keeping students in line." Jaune seemed to think that Goodwitch meant to inaudibly mutter that… but she failed.

 _I guess she used to having her voice carry._ Jaune mused. So whatever Zwei did was… well… not expected but explainable? Why did Jaune feel nervous about that? It was as if an explanation could only lead to more weirdness, and more weirdness led to more danger, and more danger led to more… well… possibilities of dying a virgin.

 _There's an easy fix to that, y'know?_ Jaune's mind automatically thought. Nope! He doesn't even know that. Just because he had an easy out to get a girlfriend did not mean it would be easy to… well… they share a room… and they were both taking a line of work were life could be short… okay it probably would happen.

Still! That was no excuse to play with her heart! She was his partner, and someone he held very dear…. He just didn't know what that… dearness(?) entailed.

When the bullhead landed at Beacon, he was about to get off when his team-mate brought something to his attention.

"Jaune… you didn't get sick!"

Jaune realized he wasn't lunging for a trash can at the moment. "Huh…" he realized, "weird." He looked at Zwei, who was still sound asleep in his arms, "isn't that weird Zwei!" He bounced the dog up and down like a baby.

It was then he looked up and saw Nora staring at Zwei, her eyes, once again, widened to the point they almost took over her face. "HE CURES MOTION SICKNESS TOO?!" She rose her hands in the air and let them down in a disbelieving frustration as she started marching in circles. "I can't handle this! I can't handle this! What is life? What is happening? THIS" she points to the dog, "is happening!"

Jaune, still holding the dog, couldn't put a calming hand on Nora's shoulder…. So he used his head. Nora stopped pacing to acknowledge the fact Jaune was leaning on her shoulder, and Jaune took that moment to calm her down.

"Hey Nora, I'll go return Zwei to Team RWBY, you can go to the training rooms and break a bunch of bots, okay?"

Nora looked at him with this dumbfounded look. "O…. okay." She then hurried away towards the training rooms, almost forcing Jaune off balance as his head was no longer resting on anything. Jaune looked as Nora ran off, her feet moving in a desperate attempt to smash something. Jaune could understand, when Pyrrha revealed she could move metal by just waving her hands, Jaune had to hold on to his sword for a good hour to ascertain that there wasn't some other eldritch force that could move his weapons. Nora needed a good smash. She was more than just a power-loving hammer-wielder… but thankfully her coping mechanisms were generally simple. It's what calmed her down when she was late for breakfast and they were no longer serving pancakes.

It might be why Ren loved being around Nora. For someone so introspective, it was nice to befriend a simple, honest soul… but maybe that's where Ren made a mistake, because Jaune saw it.

Nora was not simple.

* * *

Weiss lugged her bags of appropriate, white clothes. She learned to love her team, she really did, but shopping with Yang was like trying to fly a Nevermore through hoops. The Nevermore wanted to fly, but in the way that IT wanted to fly. Yang would not oblige any of her elegant shopping outlet choices, and always dragged her away from her conservative outfit choices to more risqué and show-offy clothes.

Now Yang's opinion on fashion was not to be fully criticized. Her advice and opinions were sound in the eyes of fashion experts and common sense, yet she was fully committed to one style: sexy. Weiss was not a "sexy" girl. She was elegant, pretty, and with proper form. She would not dress up day after day like life was a large mating ritual. She didn't want to attract boys with her body: just… her face, poise, and general beauty maybe, but not with her body.

"I'm simply saying Weiss, I get your body isn't that 'great,' but boys are not that shallow! They get attracted to any physically fit girl they see if enough skin is shown! If you do that, then Jaune will no longer be the only person who flirts with you!"

Weiss sighed, "thankfully he's eased up on that. Closest thing he does is apologize for annoying me so much last year." Weiss would give Jaune this: he matured. Not enough to reconsider but enough to maybe call him her friend someday.

"Well then your one less guy on the flirt-tree!" Yang said, her eyes glowing with teasing passion. "Look, next shopping trip, I'm not going to go so easy on you."

"Yang," Ruby cut in, "Weiss can dress how she wants…" Weiss smiled as her partner and leader stood up to her. "Besides… speaking of Jaune… Pyrrha dresses similarly to you and that doesn't get HIS attention."

"Well, maybe Jaune is an exception, and is just attracted to prudes," Yang leered, "maybe Pyrrha should change her aPEAR-h-Ance, that may work!"

"What did you just say? Why did you focus…." Weiss then had it dawn on her. "A-Pyrrha-nce, I hate you so much Yang."

Yang laughed as Ruby pouted and groaned at the pun. Weiss shook her head. Puns were not always the lowest form of comedy, but Yang made it abundantly clear why people think so. "Listen, maybe the reason I DIDN'T like Jaune for a while is because I HATE it when people just brazenly flirt with me? So, maybe I just want to have admirers from a distance, and then notice someone and ask them out myself!"

"Aw, Weissy, this year, exchange students will come for the Vytal Festival!" Yang declared, "and who knows, maybe you'll find a… I dunno, blue haired, smooth talking guy who will sweep you off your feet, and then he doesn't know how to dance!" Yang started to laugh.

"Ha, ha Yang. I have nothing against blue hair, but you are being seriously assumptive right now!" Weiss shook her head. "I'm just like you, I'm patient for finding the right one!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yang retorted.

"You dress in a way that attracts men to you," Weiss replied, "yet you don't have a boyfriend yet. Clearly, despite your brazen actions, are patient enough to not date every single worm that crawls to your apple." Weiss knew it sounded weird, but it was an Atlesian phrase, she couldn't help it.

Yang guffawed, "maybe I'm not waiting for a _man_!" She wiggled her eyebrows. Weiss saw Ruby blush and all she could do was shake her head. _Uhg, and I thought the faunus would be giving the most trouble in my team… oh wait. She does._

Weiss warmed up to Blake. Agreed, she ran off, turned out to be an ex-White Fang member, and all these other things that would basically ruin any relationship between the faunus and a Schnee, but… well…. she understood her. Blake was _born_ into the White Fang. Weiss was born into the Schnees. She got it. It's hard to rebel and leave something so ingrained into you at childhood, even if it is eventually perverted as you got older. She respected Blake. She left after realizing that violence was not right, in spite of the cruelty the world (and her father) placed on them.

Yet that didn't stop the fact that every single complicated thing that happened to her team seemed to stem with her insatiable desire to right the wrongs of something bigger then all four of them.

Also, apparently she sent away Zwei… to Nora: the living embodiment of a natural disaster.

Yang told her this while Ruby was in a changing room to avoid worrying her little sister. If Zwei wasn't back when they got there, Ruby was going to know, and Weiss was going to grab Blake by the ears… whichever ones… and drag her to an empty classroom and give the biggest lecture of responsibility she could muster. She already did it to Yang after she… well… she tried to block that memory out. She could never look at whipped cream the same way again…

Anyway, if Weiss knew anything about her team, is that they viewed her lectures as the worst things since Yang's puns… and she was going to use that to an advantage to curtail bad behavior. She may not be the leader, but she'd be damned if she didn't do something to set her team-mates straight.

"Hey girls!" _Oum my Monty I don't have time for…._

"Woof!"

 _The cutest, most adorable thing in the history of ever!_

Weiss saw Jaune about to knock on their team door with Zwei by his side. Ruby rushed over in a flurry of rose petals to pick up the little dog and twirl him around "Zwei! Where have you been!"

"Oh, he was just…" Weiss saw Jaune's face shift when what she assumed as a death glare from Yang reached him, "playing in your room, and I thought I'd say hi and… well, yeah. Here's Zwei!"

Yang walked up to Jaune, "well, good job making sure nothing bad happened to our little dog."

Ruby didn't seem to notice them as she just snuggled with Zwei on the floor. Weiss sighed, Ruby may be her leader, but Ruby was still a child: a child with a weapon the size of General Ironwood, but a child nevertheless.

"So… uh… yeah, I'm going to…. uh…. I'll see you this weekend right? Long weekend, who's excited?" Jaune still stood there, passing nervous glances at…. Zwei? Why would Jaune give nervous glances towards the dog?... Did something happen to it? Was it injured? Oh if that dog was injured, the next time Weiss got to spar against Jaune she would show no mercy. She would extend it to Nora as well… but Nora was… well… Nora. That bubble of insanity could knock her in the red with one or two hits.

"Yeah! We definitely are!" Ruby exclaimed, standing up with Zwei under her arm. "With all the action that we did as a team last year, we are going to start off doing FUN things that DON'T endanger us! Right girls!" Yang and Weiss nodded. Weiss could not agree more. She loved pursuing justice, but sometimes, she just wanted to have fun the old fashioned way…. The way that DIDN'T almost kill her.

"Okay! Maybe we can hang out. Ren and Pyrrha are off doing stuff so it'll just be Nora and me, so… yeah! I'm like… the only guy now."

"Zwei's a guy!" Ruby stated, "oh my gosh, you could TOTALLY dog-sit Zwei sometime! Like I can imagine when we are all doing something and we can't take the dog…."

"All right Ruby, that's enough!" Yang interrupted, "Jaune doesn't need to pre-occupy himself with the dog. Right?" Yang's glare was uncalled for in Weiss's opinion. She understood her lack of trust in Nora, but Jaune? He was a doofus but he wasn't careless. _Whatever,_ she thought; _Yang just doesn't trust anyone outside of her family and team to take care of a rather self-sufficient corgi. Maybe she's just over-protective of anything she deems worth protecting._

Weiss mulled over her character study of Yang, visualizing power-points, monologues, in depth descriptions of the inner turmoil of the character in the first person all coming to a satisfying conclusion that either ended in romance, victory in battle, or just a happy ending with everyone laughing together…

She really needed to stop peeking at Blake's books.

Evidenced by the fact that both Jaune and Ruby and Yang had returned to their dorms as she just stood there like an idiot. She really needed to stop introspecting so much. It's not like people were reading her thoughts to get a better understanding of the world around her. She was the only witness in her mind.

She walked in and was greeted by Zwei jumping on Blake's bed, and Blake herself incidentally hissing. The fact she got used to this always surprised her.

* * *

Nora wiped the sweat from her brow. She felt better. The training bots were dismantled and being sequestered for immediate repairs. Magnhild itself was smoking from the blasting and bruising she did to those poor, innocent, mindless drones. Her smile was relaxed, her shoulders hung loose, her arms swayed in their usual happy stride.

How long had she been at it? An hour? Two hours? A full day? Nora lost track of the time, she just had to release some pent up energy that somehow was not drained from the Deathstalkers earlier that day. Or was it yesterday?

She was just… so confused! She'd never been confused before! Everything usually made sense! But what happened back THERE, combined with all the other things she was trying to comprehend, she just lost it. In the end she was kind of embarrassed… the fact it took Jaune to literally place his head on his shoulder like some kind of boyfriend to reel her back in, kind of just showed how overboard her shock was. It was just a super-dog. What was so weird about that?

Okay, it was really weird, but nothing that she should've freaked out about. That's just not Nora… Nora took everything in her stride with a smile and glowing eyes! How dare she let something get to her so much! She would've slapped herself if she believed in self harm, but she never got that. Why harm yourself when you can harm EVERYTHING ELSE!

Hence, a bunch of smashed robot bits were strewn across the training session. She pitied the mechanics having to repair those things day in and day out. They were definitely cheap, not anything Atlas would have anyway, but still… it's not like they were kid-bricks that could just be snapped back together, or melded together with duct tape. She should visit the mechanical room one day… even if no students were allowed and give all those hard workers the Nora Special: a big, strong hug!

She arrived at the room and saw Jaune lying in bed, watching videos on his scroll with earbuds in. Ren and Pyrrha were absent, as she expected. She sighed and plopped onto her bed, dropping Magnhild on the floor, the massive metal beast clattering on the ground.

That got a startle from Jaune, who looked up from his scroll and took out your earbuds. "Hey Nora, you feeling better?"

Nora sighed, "yeah, yeah I do. Thanks for suggesting that."

Jaune gave a smile, "good. So… uh…. Listen," he got up from his bed and pulled up a chair, sitting down near Nora's bed. "Do you want to… uh… talk about it?"

"How Zwei saved our lives with…. Well… _that_!"

Jaune laughed, "No, I… uh… kinda have no idea what that was either. All I got was this," Jaune pulled out his scroll and showed a message.

 _Hello, this is Ozpin. Too busy to meet with you, just brush up on your fairy tales._

"What?" Nora asked.

Jaune shrugged, "I'll figure it out in the morning, but… I dunno… do you want to talk about… well…"

Nora sighed, she knew where Jaune was going. He was her leader, it was his job to care. She was about to say 'no,' until an idea popped into her head, "fine… I'll talk about Ren, but first you're going to have to talk about Pyrrha."

Jaune nodded, as if he expected that. "I guess you want me to go first?"

"Yes, I do." She sat up on her bed, "why don't you ask Pyrrha out if you know how she feels about you? Do you not like…. Like her or something?"

"I like her!" Jaune snapped, "Hell, maybe I do even love her. She's done so much for me… she's beautiful, talented, kind, practically perfect…."

"They why don't you make a move?"

"Because I don't think she really loves me."

Nora felt dumbfounded. He thought… that Pyrrha didn't love him? That was seriously one of the stupidest things Jaune had ever said! And as much as Nora respected Jaune, he had said some pretty stupid things, such as "does every weapon have to have a gun in it?" "I think Weiss will say 'yes' to THIS." And "does anyone want the last pancake?" Why did he even _ask_ that?

But not think Pyrrha loved him? That was borderline mental disorder level of stupid.

After Nora recovered she said… trying to reign in her volume, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" She failed.

Jaune sighed, "listen, I know it sounds stupid…."

"It DOES sound stupid because it IS stupid! Jaune, Pyrrha is CRAZY, CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY for you!" Nora waved her hands in a desperate attempt for Jaune to understand the breadth of his stupidity, "the girl probably thinks about you every NIGHT! You're the ONLY juicy thing she can talk about in our girl talks! She is SO in love with you, she had written a song about you in her diary! Here! I'll read it for you!" Nora dashed to Pyrrha's drawer and pulled out her book, "ahem, _I've been watching you lately, chasing your tail and it drives me crazy….._ "

Jaune pulled down the book and looked Nora in the eyes, "I get it… also, isn't it rude to read in someone's diary?"

"It ruder to deny someone's feelings for you!" Nora exclaimed, "like, if the guy I liked-liked told me 'you don't love me!' I'd break his legs the same way he broke my heart!" Nora stood up, and kneeled down, her face mere inches from his, her glare boring down into his eyes "so what on Remnant can you possibly say as a follow up, to make your STUPID declaration make ANY SENSE!"

"Because… uh… can you promise not to interrupt?" Jaune gave a nervous smile.

"It you promise not to say anything stupid again!" Nora crossed her arms, huffing at her delusional leader, plopping back down on her bed, staring right into Jaune's eyes.

"Look, I get it. She really, really likes me. She thinks I'm the best thing that happened to her, and maybe I am." Jaune smiled, "in fact, she's the best thing that happened to me, so the feeling is mutual. It's just… well… what made her fall in love with me?" He leaned into his chair as if in thought, "I realized it was the moment we met, when I didn't know who she was. My parents didn't allow us watching any broadcast of any combat based programming, so… well, Pyrrha Nikos was just another student attending Beacon. And with that… she saved my life.

"She trained me, she supported me even after that stupid event with Cardin, she has been my hero, and my life would be colder without her. Yet… I think she fell in love with me for the wrong reasons.

"I didn't know who she was, that's what sparked her interest. I treated her like I would treat you or Weiss or Blake… I made her feel normal. So she fell in love. She didn't fall in love with ME, she fell in love with the IDEA of me. She fell in love with the idea of normality, not taking into consideration what type of person I would be as a boyfriend and… anything beyond that. I saw her for her… she sees me as an escape of what she hates about herself…

"Listen, if she was anyone else, I would give it a shot. I would date, see if that love matured and we actually DID have romantic chemistry extending beyond our friendly relationship, and maybe see where we go from there. But she's my PARTNER, Nora…. I have to be with her for the next three years… and she's the best friend I've ever made. I can't… risk it for us to discover the possible ugly truth that we just aren't romantically compatible. And then just have the rest of our time in Beacon be… well. awkward. And I don't want to ruin what we have now… it's just… uhg!" Jaune slouched in his chair, staring at the ceiling.

"I want to believe Pyrrha loves me, I really do… but I can't trust the love she has for me now. She just loves the idea of me… and I am more than a simple idea. I am a person, with good, bad and I extend beyond just some good first impression."

Jaune had finished his speech, and Nora absorbed it all. _Jaune is being stupid! Of course Pyrrha loved him beyond the idea of him… right?_

However, Nora sort of understood what Jaune was saying. Whenever Pyrrha talked about Jaune, it was from some rose-tinted glasses, everything he did was perfect… She even admired that he CHEATED HIS WAY into Beacon, basically insulting all the hard work everyone else did to get here. Even if the standards were there not to keep a certain class size, but to make sure nobody DIED, it still cheapened the selection process.

Yet Pyrrha saw no wrong in their leader… Well, neither did Nora but it was different, it was as if she was painting Jaune in her image… rather than what he was….

And while true love COULD blossom from that, it didn't guarantee it. And as Jaune said, was it worth it to risk what they already had?

 _Damn… is that how I see Ren? Is that how Ren sees me?_ The thought troubled her.

"When…. When will you tell her this? That you know, yet…" Nora asked, this time not screaming.

Jaune gave a troubled sigh, "I don't know… I can only imagine how insulting it is to question someone's love for you… your display proved that to me." He laughed lightly. Nora smirked a little, but bowed her head.

"I… I'll be here for you when you do decide Jaune… as well as be there for Pyrrha, you… you're my family, and… I want to help."

Jaune looked at Nora and smiled, "I appreciate it…" He then sat back up straight, "now, since I just poured my heart out to you… your turn!"

"Oh… yeah." Nora frowned, "well… I mean…. There's not much to say. I trust Ren fully but he doesn't seem to return that trust."

Jaune remained sitting, looking intently at her. She felt a little warmth from his concern. "I mean, Ren and I have known each other for such a long time. We were best friends, but even then… it seems Ren appreciated me, but never seemed to trust me. Every now and then, he'd just do things on his own. And this… this is just him doing it again."

"He wanted to do it on his own," Jaune said, "but I made him take Pyrrha… just to make sure. I know if you would've preferred me sticking up for you, but…"

"No, no… I understand." Nora unfortunately DID understand, "I just… I trust him with almost everything. Except for… you know…" she winced, "my crush on him." That last part was mumbled incredibly softly, but the way she heard Jaune shift she knew he heard her. She felt her eyes tearing up again. "I just wish it wasn't a one-way street, y'know? It's like… all I am to him is just a ball of sunshine, but when it's time to get serious, I'm just something that weighs him down.

"I don't want to be just his happy friend! The lovable fool! The…" Nora stopped as felt something wrap around her.

"Sorry… I hate seeing someone other than myself cry." Jaune whispered as he tightened his embrace.

Nora was shocked, but she never rejected a hug. She wrapped her arms around her leader and tightened the grasp. His skin pressed against hers, and she felt her tears slide off her eyes and onto his shoulder. She shuddered and further pressed herself against him, for warmth against the coldness of her emotions.

"Woof"

Nora's head shot up from Jaune's shoulder, and she turned to see Zwei, sitting there, with a smoking Zwei-sized hole in their door. The hole eventually collapsed on itself, and the door stood like it was never damaged.

Jaune also was looking at the dog. "Is this… going to become a regular thing?"

Nora had a gut feeling that the answer was a 'yes.'

* * *

 **A/N: Woo! (Or should I say "Woof") Another chapter done!**

 **I mean… sorry if this chapter wasn't as funny as the other two, it's just if I'm going to instigate a romantic relationship between Jaune and Nora, I'm going to have to tackle the Goliaths in the room, Arkos and Renora. While I can't end those plot threads there, I felt it best to express the conflicts of such a relationship through dialogue between the two leads, rather than just have them explain it in their heads… It's why all of Jaune's thoughts on Pyrrha were interrupted by something.**

 **Hopefully you find it believable… Heh… It's a story about a super-dog and I'm asking if something is believable.**

 **Also, after looking through those who favorited this story… I noticed a familiar name and found that Nutshop, the person who writes "Nora's Arc," the de facto Jaune X Nora story, has favorited it! Having his or her blessing feels good! If you haven't read that story… yet are reading this… go read it! It's hilarious and great, and has been here longer so there is much more Jaune X Nora moments there!**

 **Follow! Fave! Review! Learn a Martial Art!**


	4. The Zwei-cond Coming

**A/N: Apparently I offended some people with my characterization of Yang? Okay then. I didn't really do much with her except make her frighten Jaune… which I can imagine she would do. Keep in mind we were seeing things from Weiss's eyes… that was just her interpretation of events.**

 **However, I won't deny that maybe I got her character wrong. It happens, criticism is criticism and I didn't really put much thought into Yang because she isn't really that important to this comedy story… Not saying that as a good thing, just stating that's probably how that happened. I'll try to rectify it down the line, heck! I might rectify it right now! But I'm not going to edit the previous chapters for it, unless if it's so jarring an event that your enjoyment of the story is permanently ruined… is it?**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Blake sighed as she took Yang out on a "date." Something something "endangering Zwei" something something she didn't care. Okay, she did, but not for the dog. Why would Yang be so… paranoid about the well-being of a dog to not trust anyone except for herself and her team? She could at least get behind the logic of fearing Nora, but Jaune? Weiss told her about the death glares as he safely returned it. It made no sense. Unlike Weiss, she didn't attribute it to _over-protectiveness_ ; Yang wasn't like that. No…. it was something else.

So, she would ask. Normally she would just let it be, but she was her partner. "What is it with you and that dog? Why are you so paranoid about its safety?"

She gave a smirk, "because it's so cute! Duh!"

Blake sighed, "cut the crap Yang, even you have to admit you've gone overboard. Seriously, you don't trust _Jaune_ with the dog?"

"Well, Jaune is incredibly clumsy and could drop his sword on it!"

"Yikes… what aren't you this mother-bear with Ruby?"

"Because Ruby can defend herself! Zwei can't, he's just a little corgi!" Yang lifted her hands in the air, "You have no idea how I wanted to scold Ruby for bringing Zwei along to Mountain Glenn, but then Dr. Oobleck called her a 'genius,' and I couldn't chastise her after that!" She let her hands down and shrugged, "and his sniffing did help us find that the base was underground."

Blake nodded, she had animalistic hearing and night vision… but her nose was human. She'd begrudgingly grant the dog that. Stupid snout with stupid smell. Well hey, she had a pretty nose while the dog had an ugly snout. She still won.

"Still though, why so protective of Zwei? C'mon, it can't be that personal." She smirked.

Yang let out a sigh, "All right fine, I'll tell you, only because I'm so proud of you taking initiative!" She flicked the faunus's nose, "but first, you're buying me food, we're sitting down, and we're going to look into each other's eyes!"

Blake looked into Yang's eyes, the teasing never left her gaze. Blake growled as they entered the restaurant and sat at a table in the corner: sequestered from company except for their eerily familiar waiter, whose squinty eyes, balding head, and wrinkled face seemed to pop up everywhere…. Even in her books.

"All right, story time," Yang started after ordering their food, "do you know what the name, 'Zwei' means?"

"Please tell me it's another word for Hell in some archaic language."

"Right idea, but no." Yang said, pointing at her partner. "It's the same language that named Weiss's blade… Murten…Bastard… whatever it is. 'Zwei' means 'two.'"

"Two?" Blake said, "I mean, I know the color tradition doesn't really extend to household pets," a fact she knew very well, because of many a racist comments decrying she shouldn't have a color-based name, "but…. Two?"

"Can you guess what happened to 'One?'" Yang asked: her face serious.

It clicked in her mind, "Oh…"

"'One,' or, his real name 'Tier,' was my mom's… Summer's… dog. While we were her children, Tier was her baby. After we wore her out, she would sit with Dad beside her and Tier on her lap, slowly petting it. That dog followed her around the house, though it did make time for us playful kids, and whimpered when she was out on a mission. Dad often joked that he shared his marriage with a dog….

"Then Mom didn't come back."

Blake listened in respectful silence.

"Tier would whimper every day, and we mourned with him. When Dad withdrew, and I had to stay strong for Ruby… that dog was my comforter.

"And… well… you know the rest. But… well, I skipped one detail. That night I dragged Ruby out to find my… 'real' mother…. Tier followed us. Qrow was able to get the Grimm off of us, but before he showed up we didn't know to look out for Tier… and well…. the Beowulves were trying to sneak up on us, but Tier barked to bring my attention to them. A Beowulf instinctively bit down hard on the small dog

"And… because of my recklessness, we lost the last connection we had to Mom. Dad withdrew, and now the dog was dead.

"It took a long time for Ruby to forgive me. She was much younger then and already was heart-broken with Mom's death.

"Eventually, when Dad recovered and we started becoming absent from the house more often to go to combat school, Dad got another dog, 'Tier-Zwei,' but it was almost immediately shortened to Zwei… and well…. I guess I just don't want to lose Zwei… my negligence killed the first one."

She shrugged, a smile returned to her face "also, if Jaune started dog-sitting Zwei, then who knows, Ruby might start seeing him as more than a friend… I'm sorry, but Ruby is not getting romantically involved before me!"

Blake laughed, "you know, that doesn't make any sense. How does dog-sitting lead to romance?"

Yang groaned, "Blake, of all the people I know you should understand how romance blossoms from practically anything. Just… imagine one of your books with that premise."

Blake thought about it…. A male friend offers to help take care of a female friend's dog…. The dog-lovers (*shudder* she'd never read this book) start to bond over taking care of said dog. They start to joint dog-sit, and then hang out more with each other. Then… the dog is put to sleep, but not in the preferable way with euthanasia. The man takes of his shirt to wash it from the vile mud that the stupid dog put on it. The woman sees him shirtless for the first time… and wishes him to see her topless… as she also has mud…. Then….

"Okay I see your point." Blake said, "but you know those stories are unrealistic, right?"

"Well, Ruby is a hopeless romantic, she'd pursue anything that seems out of a fairy tale!" Yang snickered, "I mean, she's not naïve, but hopeful…. I honestly wish I could feel the same sometimes," she sighed. "It's why I could never say, 'sometimes bad things just happen Ruby,' the day I say something like that is the day I give up… And if that day ever comes, I can only hope Ruby is stronger-willed then I think."

Blake nodded, "hopefully it never comes to that. Her optimism irks me sometimes but it's why she's our leader… in a sea of darkness she can easily see the light."

"Hey, let's not get too deep here, our food has arrived!" Yang rubbed her hand and licked her lips as a chicken-fried steak drenched in gravy was slid under her. Blake's fish and chips also steamed under her nose, and Blake couldn't help but truly the desire the taste of fish…. So delicious.

"It's oFFICial! You're obsessed with seafood!" Yang interjected.

"What? Why?…" Blake groaned, "o-FISH-al, Oum dammit Yang!"

Yang giggled as she started cutting into her steak. "You know, I'll stop the puns if you're nicer to Zwei…"

"Tempting…." It actually was very tempting, "but I don't think I could ever be nice to that mutt!"

"You know, you really need to chill out about Zwei! He's harmless…"

* * *

Zwei was shooting lasers out of his eyes. They didn't seem powerful enough to break through the walls though…

Because they were ricocheting off of them.

Jaune had never been to a rave before, but he assumed calling it 'a rave from Hell' was an appropriate description for his experience. After one of the lasers knocking down and breaking all light sources, the only source of visibility was the strobe-like effects of the whizzing bolts of energy bouncing around the room. He had to maneuver his body into awkward contortions to avoid the lasers, which instead collided with a bunch of loose objects in the room, not vaporizing them but knocking them around, strewing them across the floor.

Jaune was too busy trying to perform his best interpretive dance of "man-overcome-with-the-overbearing-of-society-…but-most-currently-the-struggle-with-lasers" to notice Nora pick up Magnhild and slam it on the ground. "NO!" She screamed, "BAD DOGGY! BAD!"

The lasers stopped, and Zwei whimpered as Jaune turned to his team-mate, whose face radiated an odd authority in them. "You can't just go into people's rooms without permission and start firing lasers everywhere! That's bad! That's inconsiderate! That's… uh… I don't know where to point my finger…."

The room was dark now without the lasers lighting up everything. Jaune fumbled around the room to look for either Nora or Zwei, his hands attempting to navigate the admittedly small yet expanded in darkness space.

 _Please don't make me grope Nora… please don't make me grope Nora…_ Jaune had seen enough movies (comedies mostly, parents didn't want him to watch any action) to know how the bumbling idiot touches something he's not supposed to in the dark. His leg movement then was blocked by something small and furry. Zwei was whimpering at his feet.

Jaune knelt down and picked it up, "it's fine… shh…." He pulled the dog into his shoulder like a baby, "just don't do that… okay? Can you?... Can you fix it?" Jaune had no idea what he expected.

Zwei yipped, a little too close to his ear, and suddenly lasers appeared from their previous points of collision, and started bouncing around the room again… however this time it seemed to be in reverse: instead of objects being knocked around, they were being set back where they were. The light fixtures repaired themselves, and the lasers returned into Zwei's eyes.

After all of that, Zwei licked his face.

Jaune burst out of his door holding Zwei, and knocked on Team RWBY's door. They weren't there. _They must be at dinner,_ Jaune realized, and lifted Zwei so he could look it in the eyes. "Can you let yourself back into your room and stay there?"

Zwei barked, and Jaune placed him in the ground. Zwei leaped through the door, leaving a hole, yet it similarly collapsed like the one the dog left in their door earlier. Jaune sighed, this was ridiculous.

"Uh… Jaune?" Nora approached from behind, "should we… get a bite to eat or?..."

"Yeah… yeah we should… but we're taking it to go."

Jaune turned to her team-mate as she gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"

Jaune realized he couldn't wait until morning. "We're going to the library to brush up on our fairy tales."

Nora nodded as Jaune dramatically stared off into the distance as if he just said something badass and transitory to the next section of some story.

* * *

 _You know, the author should realize that too many fourth wall jokes can get tiring._ Ozpin internally sighed as he waited for the conference call to commence. The Headmaster of Atlas and the Headmistresses of Haven and Shade would need to hear of the re-emergence of the Beast.

They were the protectors of the realm. They were the guardians of the children of Remnant, training them to defend it for those that cannot. They also were the most powerful warriors in the world, and while they rarely fought, when the time came, they would fight.

But even they were mortal, and there were powers that even they couldn't surpass. Ozpin himself was uncertain that he could defeat a seasonal Maiden solo without using some cheap trick to disappear and go into hiding.

"Ozpin, what is the purpose of this call?"

Ozpin removed himself from his thoughts and regarded the cybernetic man on the monitor. "There has been a development that I believe everyone would desire to be informed on."

"Well, please make it brief," a woman's voice came up, "I'm supposed to make a speech on proper etiquette when visiting another kingdom as representatives of Mistral and Haven. I don't wish to be late when I expect my students to similar standards."

"Uhg," another woman's voice groaned, "I swear, sometimes I can't tell Atlesians and Mistralis apart. A lecture on etiquette? Seriously? Listen, I'm an old lady that believes in manners but there's politeness and just putting on a show."

Ozpin snickered, "you're not that old Headmistress Dune. Trust me. And don't worry Headmistress Flouros, this shouldn't take up too much of your time."

The two women nodded as he turned to Ironwood. "You needn't bring the maiden over to us when Atlas moves its students. We will no longer need Amber's aura to be transferred into another student."

Ironwood's eyes widened in shock, "wha- what? I mean, that's great news, but…. How?"

"Another ancient power has arisen, one that I thought I'd never see in my lifetime, but it appears the Beast has arisen, and has selected two souls to bond to."

Murmurs came from the monitors. "Who on Remnant are you murmuring to? You're sitting alone!" Ozpin challenged.

"It seemed like an appropriate response, to surprisingly murmur…. I just realized no one was around to murmur to," Headmistress Flouros embarrassedly admitted.

"I talk to myself all the time, nothing wrong with murmuring to myself too." Headmistress Dune shrugged and sat back.

"I'm just… well… call me skeptical that this 'beast' of legends is real. You've showed me the maidens, that I cannot deny, but that fairy tale is so absurd that I can't believe it… so I murmured." General Ironwood explained.

Ozpin sighed, "one of our teams snuck in a dog from home, or… the owner of said dog was too cheap to put it in daycare and placed it in the care of one of the teams here at Beacon… That dog has now imprinted on two people from ANOTHER team, and I have seen it. The powers of the Beast has been unleashed for the second time."

Silence filled the room. "So…" General Ironwood shifting in his chair, "will you brief these two…. 'Trainers' as they are called in the story, on the situation?"

"I am a busy man, Ironwood, we all are. Besides, in the story the two found it out on their own, and I pointed them in the right direction." He gave a smile.

"You just told them to 'brush up on their fairy-tales' like you told me when you brought Amber to my doorstep, didn't you?" General Ironwood deadpanned.

Ozpin nodded. _What? I'm a busy man! My signature coffee blend doesn't brew itself!_

General Ironwood sighed, "fine. Dr. Glass will have more time to study the scientific nature of the Maiden powers anyway. Maybe possibly re-create what…. She did."

"Hopefully a little less barbarically, pass on my luck to Dr. Glass." _Who's Dr. Glass? Well, he's an OC from the author's other fic that features Weiss in post canon Volume 3…. Clearly he's here for an unashamed 'name' cameo to advertise it and I'm… participating…. In it…. Damn writer putting words in my mouth!_ Ozpin shook his head as if getting a voice out of it.

"I will. Will that be all?"

"Indeed. Take care you three."

"And you as well Ozpin."

All hung up as Ozpin sat in his lonesome, drinking coffee. He then turned on the secret cameras he had all across Beacon, and enjoyed the show.

 _Ah…_ he sipped from his favorite mug, _I love being busy_

* * *

When Jaune and Nora arrived at the library, it was practically empty. Why wouldn't it be? Evening on a Friday of a long weekend, the fact SHE was here kind of irked her! But, if within were the answers as to why there was a doggy that could fire lasers…. And reverse lasers… then she would do it… she would read something educational!

Couldn't be that bad, though? Something about fairy tales? How bad can it….

After reaching the "non-digital-book" section, Jaune pulled out a massive tome titled, "The Legends and Folklore of Remnant: Complete Edition," and plopped in on the desk with a resounding thud. That thing looked heavier than Magnhild! Nora groaned as she pulled up a chair and sat next to Jaune, who opened the massive volume as the pages crinkled from lack of use.

"Before we search this massive thing, are you SURE you have no idea how fairy tales could help us understand Zwei?" Jaune asked Nora, who shook her head.

"We didn't really hear fairy tales at the orphanage, most of the time it was ghost stories the other kids made up. The caretaker was nice but she was a busy lady, and didn't really act as our mother as she just made sure we stayed alive. So no bed-time stories from her."

Jaune nodded, "anything that encouraged tales of valor and magic were a no go in our family. Our parents didn't want us to be deluded by the ideas of grandeur that they believed when they were kids. While they read to us silly stories about village fools or drama stories of the common man, anything that granted the idea of excitement and adventure in the face of danger wasn't on the list…. Which involved a lot of fairy tales. I do know the one about…. Like…. Maidens and Seasons, or something? I never really liked that one." Jaune shrugged his shoulders.

 _Us?_ Nora internalized, "wait? You have siblings? How many?"

"Oh, uh…." Jaune laughed as he scratched the back of his head, "seven sisters?... well, actually…"

"SEVEN!?" Nora had many "siblings" at the orphanage, but none of them were related, and they didn't come from the same parents. However, she knew where babies come from, and she knew that Jaune's parents did not get government subsidies for caring for them, so they either loved kids… or thought protection was for wusses. "How come we never heard of this? How come we haven't MET or HEARD of any of them?"

"Same reason Pyrrha doesn't really talk about her family?"

"I-" Nora paused, "good point. But seriously seven SISTERS?... No wonder you're so effeminate!"

"Hey!" Jaune interjected, "I may not be the mostly manly of men, but I certainly have very masculine qualities!"

"Like what? Outside of your penis?"

Jaune choked on air as he fell out of his chair, leaving the open book unobserved. After getting back up, he stated, "okay, I would expect that from Yang, but never you Nora!"

"What?" Nora shrugged, "Like… what's wrong about talking about a body part unique to the male form? Mean, every month I tell Ren what's going on with my vag-"

"OKAY OKAY GETTING UNCOMFORTABLE HERE!" Jaune interrupted loudly. A harsh shush came from the main desk, as the library's soul inhabitant, the librarian, granted Jaune a glare that clearly took inspiration from Glynda. He sheepishly apologized and returned his gaze to Nora, "it's like…. Uh…. You know how we don't really mention Blake's cat ears?"

Nora nodded.

"Well, it's a body part that is unique to her type of person, and she's uncomfortable with them bringing it up… Same with men and… the…uh…. "

"Penis!" Nora stated cheerfully, "got it Jaune! Never mention the penis in public!"

Jaune sighed as Nora happily stared at her leader. She had to admit, she kind of knew how taboo it was to mention the downstairs area… but she never understood it, it's just a body part… One that serves a rather private purpose, but hands and mouths could…

She was getting side-tracked, as usual, so she turned to Jaune who was also turning through pages. "So… have you found anything yet?"

"I just opened the book Nora, I'm looking through the table of contents…" Jaune mumbled through various words, "Romance Tales…. No….. Adventure Tales…. Maybe…. Duck Tales…. What?"

Nora wiggled in her seat as Jaune read through the opening pages. She looked over onto it but got bored by the small print. She wasn't dumb but her interest was hard to hold. It had to be big! Vibrant! Exciting! This was just small black cursive made to look like some dinner menu at some restaurant Weiss would go to.

Come to think of it, if Jaune ever got with Weiss… he would probably QUICKLY run out of Lien. That would've sucked. He was going to start asking Pyrrha for money… and she already did that! There wouldn't be enough for her!

"Ah! Animal Tales!... Don't know why Duck Tales was separate but whatever! The answer should be…. Oh god that is a lot of fairy tales to read through."

 _Yikes,_ Nora looked at the list of titles below the book's subsection, "well… why don't you just read the titles? Maybe something important can be found in them?"

"Good idea," mentioned Jaune, making Nora smile. _She had a good idea!_ Jaune started tracing through the list…. "Let's see…. The Snakes of Wisdom, The Baskers in Houndsville, The One where They Win the Sports Game with A Loyal Goldfish…." Jaune looked up, "we have some weird stories in Remnant…"

Nora continued down the list, "Beauty and the Faunus? Waaiit, what is a faunus tale doing in the animal section?"

"The anthologist must've thought faunus as equivalent to animals," Jaune clarified, "this book must be really old… archaic line of thought."

"It's a shame." Nora moped

"Yeah." Jaune solemnly nodded, "doesn't matter… uh… The Runaway Sister and her Companion…. I can relate to that one."

"What?" Nora caught on to Jaune's possibly accidental out-loud musings

"Oh, it doesn't matter." Jaune simply stated.

"No, I'm actually curious…. Did one of your sisters run away?"

Jaune sighed, "yeah, second eldest. She couldn't stand our parents' protective nature anymore. She took a handful of food in the pantry, some of her clothes, a backpack, and an umbrella, because it rained often where we were from…"

He shrugged, "it's in the past, a few years ago. I'm over it…. Not sure if Mom and Dad are though… it's why when I rebelled, I rebelled OPENLY, told them what I was doing, where I was going… they didn't like it and tried to stop me, encourage me to come back…" Jaune shrugged, "but I did it anyway…"

Nora understood. She herself considered running away with Ren from the orphanage many times. She never did, because she wouldn't do it without Ren and Ren wouldn't do it. She was weary of living life sequestered with the people who didn't understand them, but Ren told her to be patient, that it was best that they stayed, got their education, and then ascended to their dreams normally. Why did Ren make so much sense sometimes? He also stated that the Matron would worry if we left…. And she didn't want that nice lady to worry…. Jaune did say he was over it, but what if he wasn't?

Nora prodded, "do you ever wonder where she is?"

"I just hope she's out of trouble… she was a rebellious sort, broke rules, dyed her hair without permission… didn't get a piercing though. It would be a shame to find her in a jail cell or something."

Nora nodded. She kind of worried what she would find if she found out whom her family was. She imagined them as brave and honest and dignified… but sometimes she wondered if they weren't.

"Wait… this might be pertinent. The Beast and the Two Trainers." Jaune flipped to the page.

Nora disagreed, "but Zwei's not a beast?"

"Who's saying Zwei's the beast?" He gave Nora a snarky smile, and Nora instinctively punched Jaune in the arm, sending him flying into a nearby shelf, toppling books onto him. A muffled "ow" emanated from the pile of leather bound pulp.

"What did I say about talking down to yourself? Don't call yourself a beast!" She knew the light-hearted joke was directed at her, if she thought otherwise she would've done her "hugging until barfing" thing, but she knew that confrontation was best avoided when she played a little dumb. Besides, it was always fun to watch confused looks on people's faces and keep them guessing.

Besides, if he was going to make a joke directed at her, it was always good to play the part and be the "punchline."

Jaune emerged from the books, muttering an apology, and returned to his chair, returning to his research. "Besides, what else could it be? I mean, I highly doubt that 'The Banana Fish,' 'The Stingray Slays the Crocodile,' and 'How the Grimmch Stole Shawcrossmas' will be of any help!"

Nora had to admit, those did sound worthless to their situation.

"Yikes, this is a really long one," Jaune rubbed his face, "I'll just skim through it… Hey Nora, why don't you look up to see if there is any abridged version of this tale online?"

Nora saluted, looking up the abridged notes of required reading was her SPECIALTY at school! "You got it!" She zoomed over to a computer and searched, 'The Beast and the Two Trainers.'

What she found was mostly artwork depicting the trainers combined with what appeared to be a mighty monster. The size and even species of the beast varied, some making it a wolf, other times some kind of dragon, even one where it was a pig. The trainers also varied, featuring two men, two women, one man one woman, and even two androgynous stick figures.

The variety of text based explanations studied more into the symbolic nature of the story: how otherworldly power is best shared, otherwise it can consume one. Another paper discussed this as the precursor to teams being used to overcome the Grimm, and that this tale was fabricated to justify the creation of teams. Other scholars claimed it was just a cutesy story that people dug too much into.

As for a synopsis, it basically described how two people, described as warriors, bonded themselves with an all-powerful yet tumultuous and immature beast, and through their combined strength contained and strengthened it.

Apparently some eldritch evil sought to do what eldritch evil had a tendency to do, and the two used the beast to stop it.

So basically, it was fantastical, old-age Flickémon: with two trainers and one monster, instead of one trainer and over 100 monsters….

She had that game…. She caught 'em all. She wished she could hug 'em all too in real life, especially the one that looked a penguin mixed with an ice cream cone. Everyone thought it was the developers running out of ideas and it looked stupid but…. It was SO CUTE!

She shook her head. _Nope, Nora, stay focused. This is important!... I think. Maybe?_

She then got to the part that claimed that the beast was transcendent, and the bond it held with its trainers made it transcendent as well. That one day the powers that be may reawaken, and that they would be needed again.

 _Okay… that sounds promising. But where does it say that it could be in something like a 20-something pound corgi?_ There was nothing that claimed that it would be reborn as a 20-something pound corgi.

After gathering what she could, she went over to Jaune, who seemed… perplexed. "Hey Jaune? Why do you look so confused and… blushing?"

"Oh!" Jaune immediately jerked out from the book and looked at Nora… "uh… did you find anything?"

"Your hunch seems right, two people bond with some animal to help reign in its powers. Seems similar to our situation to me!" Though the beasts in the artwork were…. Scarier and the men were less… Jaune-y... but everything else stood.

"Yeah, I got the same conclusion…. Especially when I skimmed over…. This part."

He pointed at a paragraph of text, starting to redden at it. _What's he so embarrassed about?_ Nora wondered.

"Uh Jaune, unless you want me to sit on your lap or awkwardly lean over you, you're going to have to tell me what that tiny print says."

"Oh!" Jaune cleared his throat. "It describes how the two were able to control the beasts powers. Apparently, they used their auras to link the powers to them. While they don't have any control over it, the beast did not have access to its strength unless both trainers were simultaneously present."

"Okay… that's good, explains why Glynda said Zwei wouldn't do anything because we 'interacted' with it." Normally Nora wasn't one to pay attention, but her mind was so jumbled, that instead of distracting her, it made her focus more. The words Glynda said in that helicopter echoed in her head throughout the bashing-bots session, and she dwelled on it when she wasn't dwelling on Ren.

Reigning in her thoughts, _that still doesn't explain why Jaune is so embarrassed. I will press more!_

"Is… there anything ELSE that I should know?"

That's when Jaune face-palmed, failing to hide a shade of red on his cheeks. "Apparently, they were able to 'summon' the beast, granting its powers from a distance and giving it an instinct to go towards them, wherever they were."

"Oooh!" Nora bounced up and down, "that's sounds useful! How did they do that?"

Jaune then gave a wavering sigh, "through intimate physical contact."

Nora was silent.

Then she was smiling.

Then she burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Ooooumm my Monty that is rich! Haha! So THAT'S why Zwei burst through our door right when we were hugging!" Nora understood why the self-aware awkward man that was Jaune would be embarrassed, and she would be a bit too if it weren't so damn FUNNY! "So…. So…. Basically it's confirmed… haha…" she couldn't reign in her guffaws, "we're the trainers because…." She snickered, trying to stop it with her teeth, "… we were able to call Zwei with a hug! That's…. so…. CUTE!" She squealed a little bit.

Jaune groaned, and Nora eventually recovered from the hilarity. "It's okay Jaune, it's just a hug! Ren and I just… hug…." She sighed a bit, "all the time! No need to get embarrassed about it… we… just… might have to do it more often now!" She even then looked down, a little red she felt on her cheeks, "you're also a pretty good hugger. I won't mind." She genuinely meant that too. Ren was a good receiver, but Jaune… well… Jaune was less awkward about it. In spite of how awkward he was acting now.

"Oh… uh…" Jaune also started blushing, "well, I mean, we might not even need to…"

"The story also said that if the beast's power has returned… the evil it vanquished last time has also returned."

Jaune's jaw dropped. "So… does that mean…"

Nora then finally understood it… "Ohmigosh yes!" She then grasped Jaune by the shoulder, dragging him in, "Jaune, you and I are going to have the adventure of a LIFETIME! This won't even be like my dreams! We will be fighting pure EVIL! Are you excited?" She looked at Jaune, who's eyes were riddled with fear. _Typical_

"Uh…. Maybe?"

"Good Enough!"

Jaune then turned towards the librarian, "why aren't you telling her to shush?"

The librarian simply smirked, "because she's entertaining to watch and your entertaining to mess with. I mean, why should I care about the noise you're the only two in here…."

Nora laughed as Jaune sighed. "Well, at least we know the 'half-hug' isn't 'intimate' enough…"

"Oh," Nora, still holding onto Jaune with her arm around him gripping his further shoulder, looked around to see a lack of magic dog. "That IS good to know…."

They left the library, as Nora held onto Jaune's arm with hers. "We should try different positions! You know, to see what works and…"

"Nora… please, never phrase it like that ever again in public. People might get the wrong idea…."

"Oh… sorry Re-Jaune! I mean Jaune!"

* * *

"Oh, I assure you my Queen, I will bring them to their knees. The power they think they have… will be turned into ashes when I wrest it from them. I…."

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF ME STOP MONOLOGUING!" Salem roared as Cinder communed with her via glove-phone. "I get it, your some sexy femme fatale who talks like she's interesting, but doesn't do anything interesting and who's only emotion is pure evil! Seriously, I'm evil incarnate and I have more personality than you!" Cinder winced, or at least she would've if her face wasn't transfixed in an evil sneer. Her mother told her if she kept making faces, her face would freeze that way. And while she could occasionally muster an angry frown… her face was stuck at evil sneer. Her mother was right.

"Look, just… use your underlings to clear them out. The beast has just awoken and its powers are either weak or unfocused. Time is of the essence. They are two students from Beacon: second years. While I do not know their names they are on the team as that Mistrali legend Pyrrha Nikos: Her hapless partner and the other girl on the team. That should be enough information to guide you to them."

"It will be, my Queen." She said, stuck in her evil smile, "when my associates reach them, they will know the power of…" Salem hung up.

"Neo!" Cinder called out, a tiny girl appearing in front of her "get on the next flight to Vale! We'll cover for you in class if we have to. Help Mr. Torchwick with a new job I have for him. He will need to exterminate two students from Beacon for me!" She then used her half-maiden powers to create a piece of paper, (nature powers: trees are nature, and paper comes from trees) and then cut her finger to write down a letter in evil, sexy-in-a-kinky-way blood. She then made an envelope, put letter in envelope, and handed it to Neo.

"Give it to him! Let him know if he and you succeed I will be…." She paused for dramatic effect, "…immensely satisfied." Neo nodded and disappeared.

 _Soon_ , Cinder thought, _what should be mine will be mine. My Queen will allow me to ascend into power to witness the fall of mankind to her great race! Then, everyone will know how cruel and evil I am!"_ She stood there, soliloquizing in her head for a good five hours with that smirk on her face.

* * *

 **A/N: Hopefully that first part helped rectify my "mistakes" with Yang… however, I do have to admit, with a name that translates to "Two," clearly that means Zwei is not the first pooch in the Xiao Long household. I couldn't help but wonder…**

 **Anyway, I feared that this chapter might get repetitive, since it consisted of Ozpin and Nora reaffirming the fairy tale that justifies the admittedly silly plot into the RWBY universe. Hopefully there were enough… jokes(?) funny bits(?) to make it better.**

 **Also, yes, I have another story called Weiss vs. Atlas, that features a plethora of OCs and characters with little screentime. It's a post Vol. 3 fic, it features Weiss, there are robots in it... check it out if you want.**

 **Also, I don't think I'm the only one that didn't really like Cinder: not only as a person but as a character. Her biggest character trait was, "she's evil." In a show with such strong characters, having the big bad (at least she was the big bad at that time) being so uninteresting and generically evil was jarring. Now, a lot of fan-fiction writers take this chance to develop her character. Give it depth, make her motivations known….**

 **But this is a humor story featuring Zwei as one of the most powerful forces in the universe, I'm going to make her a joke and save the main serious villain-y things to Salem. All of y'all cool with that? Hopefully.**

 **Follow! Fave! Review! Don't Make a Silly Face, or You Might Wind Up like Cinder! Hug a Good Friend, it Might Summon a Beast of Unimaginable Power!**


	5. Bitches at Bar K

**A/N: Apparently there's some anime that I've never watched that features a corgi named "Ein." (One in German) So Zwei is basically an homage, not a hint… and here I was thinking I was on to something….**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, and its conception to the late Monty Oum**

* * *

Nora and Jaune went to bed. Team RWBY went to bed. The night progressed; the shattered moon loomed and performed its melodic orbit around the crisp black sky.

Little did the world know what terrifying thing was about to happen.

Torchwick may be free, making the criminal underground as alive as it usually was. Adam may be leading hordes of disillusioned faunus to unnecessary violence. Salem may keep watch over the world, patiently waiting for the scourge of Grimm to overtake the innocent. Yet the world was prepared for that. It was expected. However, something even scarier was on the horizon. It may not be the most destructive, but it was the most psychologically dangerous event since Ozpin reached puberty and discovered "shipping."

The drinking age in Vale was 19.

And Yang's 19th birthday was that day.

* * *

Yang awoke, a smile on her face. She intentionally reminded no one of her birthday, and she assumed the only one who knew it was coming was Ruby, who also kept quiet about it for some reason. She assumed it was some form of denial. The unrelenting fear that her sister was now of age to imbibe in the funtime beverage that was ALL THE DRINKS! That and she was always rife with energy and reckless excitement on the day meant to celebrate her.

She got distracted yesterday with that drama with Zwei. Thankfully Jaune returned him before Ruby had a chance to worry. She knew her sister was very much capable of dealing with danger and emotional turmoil, but if she could help it, she would NEVER make her sister feel worry, feel helpless, or feel sad in general. Ruby was the innocence that made Yang hopeful.

She would never tell her sister this, but Ruby was the person who made her stop worrying about things. Ruby was the one that stopped her dwelling on her "real" mother. Ruby was the one that made her feel alright for being a free spirit with only a vague direction on life. Ruby made her feel wanted and beautiful when acne covered her from forehead to chin…. And some back-ne, that was horrible. If there were ever pictures shown of her awkward early-pubescant days, she would murder the person, unless if it was Ruby….

Though Ruby would still have to hide for a good five days to avoid the most malicious of noogies.

Yang found herself looking at her sister, who was still asleep. Was she the first one up? That was odd, but maybe it was the excitement for her 19th birthday! She could finally be considered "legal," no more sneaking a sip from her uncle's flask when he visited! She could just walk to the store and use Dad's money to buy some of the good stuff!

The fact her birthday lined up with this long weekend was also perfect! She could get wasted today, recover the next, and then do the work on the last day. She'd have to deal with Weiss chastising her, but that was to be expected. After the "whipped cream incident," she couldn't possibly imagine Weiss's lecturing getting any worse.

However, the drinking could wait until the evening. That's when it was the most fun.

She rose from bed, disrobed from her pajamas, got into a towel, and retrieved her toiletries. She wondered if anyone would be up to stare at her. Unlike her team-mates, she appreciated and understood the stares. It's not like you're a bad person when your hormones overcome your common sense and dignity. As long as you don't overstep the basic boundaries she found no problem with a little desire.

It would make her uncomfortable for those to do that to her sister, but that was because she was two years younger… Then again, she was 16 now. Yang remembered when she turned 16, the acne cleared, her chest enlarged… lots of good stuff!

As long as the lookers didn't overstep their boundaries… and if she got some romance first! She was competitive after all.

She exited her dorm to find her first man to stare… Jaune.

Blake did point out she gave Jaune a hard time about Zwei, all the dirty looks and the insinuations that he should never even approach the dog again. She felt bad about that, but she couldn't help it! Zwei was her responsibility! The instant she let her guard down and let someone other than she and her father take care of the successor to her mother's dog…. Something bad might happen again, like it did with Tier. She refused to let Jaune, the hapless, clueless leader of Team JNPR, even stroke his ears without her watching.

Didn't mean that that wasn't irrational. Jaune was harmless as much as he was clueless….like, when was he finally going to tap that sexy partner of his? It's not like he was unable to appreciate the female form, given the way his eyes enlarged and then shied away out of embarrassed respect.

She should apologize. And tease. Preferably both.

"Y'know Jaune, my eyes are over here! You can look at THOSE if you want!" She gave a snide smile as Jaune carefully shifted his face to look into her gaze. Yang positively adored the desperate focus his eyes gave her, the twitching resistance to avoid looking at her… other things.

Jaune actually wasn't that bad looking, but compared to the other people at Beacon, he was merely average. Yang would NEVER consider Jaune as anything closer to a male friend that was fun to mess with. Best start to a birthday ever.

"Y-y-yes," he stammered, "so… uh…. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great! Thanks for asking… look, I wanted to apologize." She started to step closer, enjoying the redness on Jaune's cheeks. Without the towel Yang would be naked, and she knew Jaune knew. She could only imagine his mind automatically fantasizing, then the gentleman in him chastising, and all the tortuous thoughts that laced the confused boy's mind.

When Yang was mere inches from Jaune's face, "I didn't mean to look at you so meanly yesterday, I swear it was just instinct." What she said was true, but it didn't stop the almost sarcastic sultriness in her voice. "I hope you can forgive me for…. overstepping my boundaries." Oh she only IMAGINE the dirty thoughts Jaune's hormones were forcing onto him.

"Um… Mrs. Robinson, I think you're trying to seduce me." The smile Jaune gave seemed nervously forced, but planned.

Yang had never heard of a 'Mrs. Robinson,' but Jaune just called her out! Respect! "Well, what would you do if it was intentional and wanted, Jaune? As a way of… apologizing."

Jaune gulped. _Hah! I got you!_ "Well…. I would be flattered, b-but I'd like to get to know you better first. Maybe have you buy me dinner?" Jaune sheepishly shrugged _Wait what? Did someone just use the 'buy me dinner first' on me? Oh it's on vomit boy!_

"I don't buy anyone dinner, I normally just cook them something."

"Well…uh… then what do you have prepared?"

"Depends… " _Uh…. Hm…._ "Do you want it formal or casual?"

Jaune sighed, "as long as you wear clothes I'm fine with either attire. Now can you please-"

"Shh…" she almost touched his lips with her finger, but even she had to admit that was probably too far: no physical contact. "…why ruin this moment?"

"…this moment wasn't already ruinous?"

"Dude, you totally held your own there for a while, I'm impressed!" Yang put a hand on her hips, "where'd you learn to flirt like that?"

"That was flirting?" _Even when Jaune isn't by circumstance hopeless, he is somehow by definition hopeless._ Yang internally groaned, "that was just me trying to- Oh just go take a damn shower and let me get some breakfast!"

"You know it doesn't need to be dinner….."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Hey, chill out man! Normally guys would LOVE being teased by a woman in just a towel!" Yang flashed Jaune a smile. "Also, it's my birthday today! Just humor me with those blushes and stammers of yours that make my heart flutter…. Because of laughter!" She started laughing as Jaune groaned, his face grinding into his own hand.

She then continued her verbal jabbing, "you know what girls like for their birthday?..." she cooed.

"Well, Nora just wanted an extra helping of pancakes for her 19th, so…."

Yang was about to rib Jaune even further until he let that info slip. _Wait… Nora's 19!_ None of her team-mates were, so she was just planning on cruising the bars alone. But Nora….

 _Wait, shouldn't I be mad at her about Zwei?... Nah…. That's a sunken bridge under water._

"Nora's 19?" Yang asked, her desire to tease Jaune distant in her mind. "Oh we have GOT to party later today!"

"Fine! Just either go take your shower or put your clothes on!" Jaune left before Yang could say anything else. Oh yeah, she was supposed to apologize sincerely, wasn't she? Well, she can do that later. Maybe with a drunk call! That could be hilarious!

She eventually did take her shower; if she wanted to have plenty of day to celebrate she'd have to take it as early as possible, considering her hair required the finesse that only Yang's self-expertise could provide. She would know when she found the one for her when, for the inevitable "sharing-a-shower," he or she would be able to properly shampoo and condition her hair for her.

She imagined the future moment with musical accompaniment. What was that song from that pottery scene in that one movie with the ghost? What was the movie called? Why do people relate so much to movies when most of their stories were unrealistic? Her mind drifted into standard shower-thought fare, somehow both profound yet insipid.

After dwelling on the general lack of realism in entertainment yet relatability that could be found not in scenarios but with the characters within them… and then forgetting about that fifty minute inner soliloquy when she turned off the water, Yang emerged from the showers feeling refreshed and ready to celebrate. Let Yang's 19th birthday COMMENCE!

* * *

Jaune didn't risk taking out the gigantic Legend Anthology from the library, in order to avoid suspicion. Why would someone be suspicious of him lugging a heavy book about Remnant's greatest tales? He had no idea, but it wasn't like Jaune to do extensive research on anything and he didn't feel like answering the inevitable question, "why are you caring a giant book around when you could be using your backpack?" Wait, they had backpacks? Well they did for their missions….

He shook his head; he was starting to sound like Nora, with the tangential thought patterns and all that. He carefully took a bite from breakfast burrito to avoid staining the ancient tome. The library was once again empty, no one wishing to spend Saturday morning in the place. Besides, he found a perfectly unnoticeable study room that was ignored because it had no windows or ways to ogle ladies from across the shelves. No one visited, and no one would bother Jaune.

He decided he would read the full tale, and by Oum was it a chore. While its writing held that classic "once-upon-a-time" sing song charm that elicited wonder from the reader; it only worked for the first couple of paragraphs. Everything else was tired exposition about a couple characters with minimal personality traits. In fact, their names were "forgotten by history," so not only were "Trainer 1" and "Trainer 2" simply called that, the supporting cast also simply had words that described them. Like, "the Guardsman," "The King's Daughter," and "The King's Daughter's Father."

Then it would describe the food. Then they would sing a song. Then the Beast would run away _again_ and Jaune had to read the same sub-story all over…. All so he could scrounge up some tidbits on his current situation.

The Bards of ancient Remnant must've been desperate to make some kind of "word count" so that their work could be considered legitimate, and the one who wrote this monolith of words was probably compensating for something…. Maybe he couldn't grow a proper Bard beard.

In spite of the words that _somehow_ droned without making an audible sound, Jaune got a general _idea_ of what Zwei's powers were. While the nature and origin of them were never fully explained, it was linked to the evil that it was destined to fight: which, even if it preferred overly long terms such as "Stalkers of the Breathing Shadows," "Children of the Blackened Void," and "Those Climbing in Our Windows Snatching Our People Up ," it was clear they were talking about the simply named _Grimm_. After resisting crossing those melodramatic titles out to replace it with the simpler _word_ , Jaune pressed on to deduce that _the Grimm_ referred to it as the _anti-Grimm_ , a soul-bearer that yet contained trace about of Grimm beast-hood: A creature of black (of Grimm) and of white (of Soul).

This dichotomy created an energy that somehow enveloped the creature, and allowed "the Beast" to perform acts of "miracles." While the miracles varied incredibly, the lore declared that it reached into the power of the Soul: Aura and Semblance, and merged it with the power of the Grimm: Anonymity and Hive-based Harmony. The result was…..

Physics defying laser eyes that work in reverse, for example.

Jaune _would_ have found this information interesting if it weren't laced with such unnecessary filler. Like….

"HEY JAUNE!" Nora's voice piped up.

"GAH!" Jaune jumped out of his chair and landed on the ground to find Nora hovering over his former seat. "How long were you watching me?... How did you find me?"

"Easy!" Nora shrugged, "I just followed my intuition to find the magnetic pull of your intrinsic leadership!" When Jaune gave Nora a dubious look, she laughed and said, "all right. I gathered you'd be here, hiding somewhere reading that stupid book!"

"It's not stupid!" Jaune defended, "it's old, racist, and looks like a prop from a bad fantasy movie, but I wouldn't call it stupid. Besides, if THAT story is true," He pointed at the book while he got up, the pages still open to the story he was reading, "can you imagine what ELSE could be true within that text?"

"True," Nora nodded, "but we don't need to understand _everything!_ Like, when we're out hunting Grimm, right? Do we need to know ALL of Professor Port's exploits?"

"Uh…" Jaune had to admit, Nora did have a point there.

"Of course not silly! Because even if I DON'T have all the facts! I have enough to know what the next move needs to be!"

Jaune was curious and nervous at the same time, "eh… okay. What?"

A pink blur exited his alcove, and she later returned for her to be wearing blue jeans, a teal shirt, a light blue and white vest, and a red hat. "We have to start TRAINING ZWEI!" She pointed dramatically to Jaune, "Now let's cuddle and get this show on the road!"

Jaune stood there"Uh… One: not indoors, and especially not in something as calm and peaceful as a library. And Two: Really? You have an outfit for Ember, the main character of the Flickémon anime?"

"One: Oh, good idea! Two: Of course!"

Jaune sighed, "look, I get that that has to be our first move, but do we know _how_ to train a dog? Let alone a…. magic dog?"

"We can figure it out as we go! Wasn't that your plan when you sn-"

Jaune zoomed over to Nora to cover her mouth, "not so loud." He harshly whispered. "Look, sometimes you have to wing it, and sometimes you-"Jaune paused, "-are you licking my hand?" Jaune removed said hand as he felt something moist start caressing it.

"Oop, sorry! Force of habit!" Nora smiled with a little red on her cheeks. She sat down on a chair.

Jaune groaned slightly, "all right, Nora. Look, we want to do this without bringing this to Team RWBY's attention, like how Glynda asked us."

Nora nodded.

"We also can't really make anyone else notice, so we can't 'train' Zwei in the courtyards."

Nora nodded.

"We also can't trash our room. We might not be so lucky as we were with the lasers.

Nora nodded.

"So we're going to have to create a schedule. With lesson plans: what to focus on."

Nora nodded off.

"Figure out what skills are most pertinent, that which can be shaped into something we can adaptively manipulate in a battle circumstance."

Nora started breathing heavily.

"Also look into this eldritch enemy that we must fight. They are based on the Grimm but clearly it must be bigger-"

Nora started to snore, with a cartoonish snot bubble inflating from her nose.

Jaune looked at his sleeping team-mate in awe. How can someone so hyper fall asleep so fast? He couldn't even be mad… okay he could be.

"NORA!" Jaune exclaimed, causing Nora to jump in her chair, giving a startled smile. _Oh, sweet vengeance!_

"I'm awake!" She exclaimed, "just… thinking really deeply about this stuff!"

Jaune shook his head, "of course." He grumbled. "Look, we'll have to do the training at night. No one can see us, Team RWBY will be asleep, and who knows… we can test it out on the increased concentration of Grimm.

Nora smiled, "Jaune, that's why you're the leader, and I'm the smasher!" She continued the infectious smile, "but seriously, take a break from reading that book. When I found you, you were mumbling things like 'for the love of Oum shut up about the pickled herring!' I mean, I mumble things like that all the time to myself, but when you do it, it makes me concerned." She got out of her chair and patted Jaune on the shoulder, "You got me to help! You aren't alone in…. whatever this is! So…. Mind if I walk you out?" She offered her arm to Jaune.

"I'll… I'll check out the book first."

"Let me do that!" She withdrew her arm and picked up the book like it was…. well… something. The weight seemed to surprise her. "Yikes! I should use THIS as my weapon!... Naw, Magnhild would get jelly!... Hmm, you know, I've never HAD jelly on pancakes! I've had peanut butter, but never jelly…" She got lost in thought before she seemed to realize what she offered to do. She then smiled and whizzed off to the checkout counter.

Jaune decided that being paranoid about possible suspicion of his out-of-nowhere interest in Remnant's fantastical lore was stupid. He had to keep what he was doing a secret, yes, but what kind of suspicion would end in "clearly he's studying how to train a mystical creature," by just seeing him read fairy tales. They'd simply assume something much more mild and tame.

As Nora and Jaune walked down the hallway, Jaune himself carrying the book as Nora's arms got tired, ( _Seriously, she picks me up like its nothing but finds it too demanding to carry a book?)_ Jaune came across a familiar sight: Yang walking down the hall with a teasing grin. At least she was wearing clothes, even if her usual attire was only slightly more modest than a towel.

"He Jaune, hey Nora! How's it hangin'?" Yang came up to the duo with a small bouquet of flowers, offering it to Jaune

"So… yeah, sorry for freaking out about Zwei, I shoulda…. Well, Nora no offense you are kinda unstable!" She gave Nora a casually snarky look, while Nora just gave Yang a look of confusion. "Weiss told me the best way was to apologize with store-bought flowers."

Nora looked at Jaune. "Yang was concerned about Zwei? Did you tell-" Jaune covered Nora's mouth for the second time that day. She did not need to hear of their adventure in the Emerald Forest, especially while she seemed eager to forgive them.

"We accept your apology and we don't need to say anything else about it! Right Nora?" He removed his hand and Nora continued her confused look until she shifted it to her usual smile.

"Right! Apology accepted! How are you doing Yang?" Nora energetically asked

"Great! Especially now that I am officially legal!" She hiked a thumb up and pointed at herself. "Speaking of legal… NORA!" She turned to Nora, "how about as my apologies for doubting you taking care of Zwei, let's go out tonight! It's my 19th birthday and a little bird told me you're already 19!"

"BIRDS CAN TALK NOW!?" Nora exclaimed. Jaune face-palmed, but then again he shouldn't be surprised. She just discovered dogs have super-powers, it's not too much of a leap of logic to have communicative avians.

"Bird's being able to talk? Ha ha!" Yang laughed, "You crack me up Nora you really do! No, birds can't talk. Only people can talk!"

"Ooooh," Nora nodded, "so a person disguised as a bird told you?"

"What? People disguised as birds?" Yang laughed incredibly hard again.

"Nora! Nora! You are the most imaginative girl I've ever met! Then it's settled! We're partying tonight!" She then pulled Nora into her chest, "two girls taking on the town of Vale!" Nora blinked in Yang's grasp, not uncomfortably but with stupefaction.

"Um… sure? That sounds fun?" Jaune never heard Nora so uncertain about fun before. It was kind of weird. "Are we going to be out all night? Because… uh…. Jaune and I…."

"Oooh, you and vomit boy have plans!" Yang snarked, "does it have anything to do with that book?" She let go of Nora and wrested the giant tome from Jaune's hands. "Shit this thing is heavy!" Yang dropped the massive thing on the ground, revealing its title.

Yang rose an eyebrow, "The Legends and Folklore… what the... Fairy tales? Why would you?..." Yang looked at Jaune, "is this a roleplay or fetish thing? Are you and Pyrrha FINALLY..."

"Yang!" To Jaune's surprise it was Nora who interjected, "we were just going to have a late night bonding exercise, by catching up on the stories we never heard as children! Jaune's parents were lame and I have no parents, so we were just going to get a little bit of childhood in together! Right!" Nora flashed Jaune a wide smile.

Jaune nodded and played along, "yes, just some simple team bonding. With Pyrrha and Ren busy it would be opportune to-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't restate what she just said!" Yang interrupted, "though are you sure it isn't literal 'bonding?' Like, you know, conjoining too things together….. like…"

"Yang," Jaune stated, "go home. You're drunk."

"My first home is all the way in Patch. THIS is my home now! Also, I haven't had a single drop of booze yet… YET"

Yang pointed a lazy finger at Jaune. "But I'll leave you two to your 'bonding,' or whatever. Still, Nora, I'll text you when we're going out!"

"But you don't have my…."

"I'll text Jaune then, who'll text you! I'm a genius!" She stated with pride as she sauntered off. Leaving the two with nary a word to say in response to what just happened.

"Um…. Should I… go with her?" Nora asked.

Jaune never thought he'd say this, "Nora, normally I wouldn't let anything so stupid interfere with 'team bonding.'" Nora giggled, "but… Yang probably needs someone to keep an eye on her, because I doubt you not going with her will stop Yang from hitting the town… and possibly destroying it." Jaune just asked Nora… to be responsible… for another person's _safety_.

Hell was going to have its first snow day.

Nora, to continue the current blizzard in the Underworld, nodded professionally. "Sound reasoning, are you sure there isn't anyone else she knows whose 19 though? I'm not sure if I could handle her…"

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen Team CFVY around, they must be doing something. Who knows, they might be doing their third year first-non-chaperoned mission early!"

"Or something else entirely." Nora added.

Jaune shrugged. "Basically, that means you're the only 19 year old Yang knows personally enough to want to party with… It's a responsibility I wouldn't take lightly."

Nora shuddered, "give me the dog." Jaune couldn't help but guffaw.

"We'll work on training Zwei tomorrow, you go and be Yang's chaperone tonight… Call me if you need backup or need someone to escort you back to Beacon, I don't want to discourage your legal-age-right to drink…"

"Oh I don't drink!" Nora smiled, "I tried that once and then I got tired… and when I get tired things get boring! Besides, the buzzing up here," she knocked her forehead, "was really weird."

Jaune could only imagine what scenario happened to combine Nora with alcohol… and only could thank Oum that she didn't like it that much. If only if she had the same attitude towards sugar.

"Well, maybe I can look into facilities we could use to train the dog during the day… I'll go meet with Glynda." _Why didn't I think of that sooner?_ "Also, I probably should get started on Oobleck's assignment… about the founding of Mistral…. And I have to do it without Pyrrha." Jaune groaned, maybe he shouldn't have let Pyrrha leave with Ren: he could only blame himself.

"You can only blame yourself for that you know!" Nora bumped him on the shoulder, "but hey! I know a thing or two about Mistrali history!"

"You do?" Jaune asked excitedly.

"Yeah! I know the current Headmistress of Haven is Flouros, and that Pyrrha Nikos set the new world record for consecutive wins at the Mistral regionals! That's my thing or two!" Nora sardonically smiled as Jaune groaned into his open hand. How many times had he face-palmed today?

"You know you have the same assignment, right?"

Nora giggled, "oh, Ren and I will just…. Oh." Her face went dull with realization.

Jaune then sighed, "how about we get this book back to our room, and then maybe we can learn to not rely on our much more dependable partners and work on this assignment together?" Jaune turned to his teammate with an eyebrow raised.

Nora gave a small, genuine smile. "I'd like that."

* * *

Roman Torchwick hated being diverted off course. First, he had to steal as much dust as he could to the point he could make his own dust company. Then he was asked to coerce the city-dwelling White Fang to help in his dust robberies. Then he was told to set up a base in the off-city ruins of Mountain Glenn, which was then discovered before anything could be done with it. Then he was asked to once again do more dust robberies. Now he's being asked to assassinate two Beacon students. At least he could get a pattern from the previous four orders, but this was just out of left field. He didn't even know why he had to assassinate them! No matter: at least he had Neo.

That lady took his most important associate away from him to pose as their fourth student in their makeshift team… all the way in Haven. He wasn't going to have her back until the transfer students came in for the Vytal Festival… but apparently she was here temporarily: Made sense, killing was Neo's specialty.

From the two targets, he couldn't risk sending Neo in to stealthily kill them in their sleep. They both have auras that would need to be worn down, and there would be four people: one of which Pyrrha Nikos. Roman had all the faith in his associate, but Pyrrha Nikos was an undefeated champion, and wasn't even the target. If would be preferable to not get her involved.

Also, there were people Roman knew could take on Neo if she was caught: Glynda and Ozpin.

It also didn't help that it was advised to take them on separately. He didn't know his targets well enough to predict their actions should one of their team-mates be killed and/or reported missing. Will he or she run out foolishly, or shelter themselves, making them harder targets? They would have to be killed at around the same time, while they were separated. That made his job easy.

And what Torchwick meant with easy was _Everything's Annoying and Stupid…Y_

Torchwick however was not one to let the trials of his mysterious and seductive employer to put him down. He had the outline of a plan, but needed to work out the kinks. He told Neo that there would be no action tonight, and just to enjoy herself. He did however inform her of her target, Nora Valkyrie. Torchwich would take care of Jaune. While he had never seen the two before, he had hacked into the Beacon directory files to get a reading on his targets. Jaune was the leader, but his combat was the weakest. Nothing too unusual, sometimes the leaders are best at manipulating the skills of those stronger than them…. Just look at him and Neo!

However, Neo should target the stronger fighter. He would take on Jaune. If they could orchestrate this properly, they could kill them near simultaneously.

It would be the perfect plan, if he had a plan yet. However, that was what the night was for.

* * *

Nora spent the majority of the day working on homework assignments with her fearless leader. He wasn't as knowledgeable as Ren, but his smartness was certainly helpful during the intellectually charged essay portions. Nora liked to imagine she helped to, with keeping an upbeat attitude, and the fact she had a great memory. (She remembered every horrified face of all of her victims as she laughed maniacally over their defeated bodies!)

It was then Jaune's scroll that signaled the end. Before Jaune could answer a rapid and rough knocking on the door was heard, and when Nora got up to open it, she was tugged into a semi-embrace with Yang for the second time that day.

"Never mind, found her!" Yang hung up her scroll and looked at Nora. "You and I are going to get fucked uuuuuuup!"

Nora felt nervous: she wasn't used to that emotion if Ren wasn't involved. "Uh… are you sure we couldn't pace

"Nonsense! YOTNO!"

Nora rose an eyebrow, "Yacht No?" _Is this what it feels like to talk to me?_

"You Only Turn Nineteen Once!" Yang declared, then sheepishly smiled, "I'll make it cool. Don't worry!"

Nora rubbed her face, then came up with a smile. "All righty, so where are we headed?"

"Only to the best clubs that I am not banned from!"

"Cool!" Nora exclaimed. "Wait what?"

Yang didn't answer as they reached the bullhead docks, "so… where's your team?"

Yang smiled, "oh, we celebrated all day! But I'm ready for the mature portion of my b-day, as long as I don't do an uncle impersonation."

 _Uncle impression?_ Nora wondered, but decided not to ask. Today she was going to prove to herself _and Ren_ that she could be responsible! Yes! She was going to be the reasonable, mature, and helpful individual that would make sure that Yang didn't do anything reckless and dangerous.

Mature Nora, activate!... _Is it mature that I need to internally activate it! No! Focus…. Responsibility…._

Yang then reached into her cleavage and pulled out a flask as the got into the massive craft. "First, we should pre-party a bit before we reach Vale." She took a swig out of it, before scrunching up her face. "Augh! How does Qrow drink this stuff all the time?" She then passed it to Nora.

"Oh, I don't drink" _Mature Nora… Be mature… what would Ren say?_ "Also… isn't there a rule for no food or drink on the bullhead?"

"You don't drink?" Yang asked incredulously. "You, Nora, free spirit of fun, don't drink the spirit of fun?" Yang looked off into the distance. "How ironic…" she then smiled, "or NORA-nic!"

"Boo!" Nora flicked Yang's nose, "even I have to admit that's pushing it!"

"Hey!" She returned the flask into her cleavage. She then sighed, "c'mon Nora! At least have a drink when we get to the club! It's no fun being the only drinker!" Nora had to admit, that did sound rather obnoxious. It was like during Halloween, when Ren wouldn't eat any of the candy because it was "unhealthy."

Nora sighed. _What to mature people do…. They drink… responsibly!_ She smiled, that's what the ads on TV told her! Besides, she could always drink-snipe whenever Yang had enough! It was perfect!

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to have Yang drink the entire flask anyway.

"All right," Nora smiled, "I'll have a sip."

* * *

"So, how's the mission going Pyrrha?" Jaune talked to his scroll: Pyrrha's smiling face on the monitor. She really was beautiful, and it looked like she dolled up a bit before getting on the call, you can't tell Jaune that she would look THAT pristine after a day of investigations, this wasn't a TV show.

"Ren hasn't progressed as much as he hoped, however while he was busy I did arrange for our accommodations, a lovely family had an extra room…." She then looked sheepishly off screen, "only one bed though!"

"I could only imagine what would happen if Nora was there…" Jaune chuckled. _I could also imagine what would happen if I was in Ren's place… Or what would almost happen._ "How are you going to sort that out?

Pyrrha laughed at that, "Ren had intended to camp outdoors for the entirety of the mission. I offered him the bed but he insisted that he sleep on the carpet in a sleeping bag."

"Where is he right now?"

"He's talking with the family, hoping he could get some clues as to his origins… He hasn't really told me much about what he's hoping to find here."

"He doesn't talk so openly about it to me, or more surprisingly, Nora. Don't take it personally."

"I don't," she gave a thoughtful frown, "I'm just hoping it doesn't consume him."

"It's why I'm glad I sent you. I can tell you from experience you're the best person to bring someone down to earth."

Pyrrha visibly blushed, "oh, I was just helping my partner…"

 _It was more than that, and I know it._ It frustrated Jaune. Frustrated that he couldn't do that stupid thing that happens in every television drama with a romantic subplot, the classic, "let's talk about us," routine. He couldn't muster up the courage to bring up what he didn't understand. He thought about them as a couple multiple times and… well, he could imagine ONE happy scenario, but he could imagine a dozen other ones. Pyrrha's fame wearing him down. Pyrrha realizing that what was charming wore thin over time. Jaune realizing that he could never feel for Pyrrha what she felt for him. Jaune making a mistake, and Pyrrha's patience with him finally breaking.

As he told Nora, these were risks he would be willing to take if it was any other girl. But it wasn't any other girl. It was his partner, someone he valued too immensely to take that risk for a simple hunch. He may have had fantastical views of what he was in the past, but he had seven sisters. He saw relationships. They weren't just enjoyment, they were work. And sometimes, when you extend past the "will-they-won't-they" flirting stage, you find that while there was an attraction, there wasn't anything worth staying for.

And when two people make that discovery… or worse, only one, the relationship that existed prior almost always shattered.

"Jaune… Jaune! You look like something's bothering you."

"What!" Jaune snapped out of his thoughts, "what makes you say that?"

"You stopped talking and you're grasping Magnhild like you want to hit something."

Jaune looked down to see him holding Nora's hammer. _How did that get there… and Oum is it heavy!_ The weight of the weapon suddenly became apparent as Jaune had to exert all of his effort to put the thing down gently. He returned to his scroll, placed upright on his desk. "I guess… I dunno, I miss you?" He sheepishly shrugged. She saw her eyes widen as her cheeks redden. _Quick! Quick! Make less romantic! Put her down easy! Put her down easy!_

"I mean… with the Mistral homework, and the lack of training, I really feel your absence." _Great response! Reminded her that she's important to me, yet quelled any romance! Mental high five brain!_ The sound of one hand clapping reverberated in Jaune's soundless conscious.

"Oh…. Yeah…" Pyrrha looked down with a disappointed look. Jaune hated doing this to her, playing oblivious, but how was he supposed to act until he could finally just get the courage and understanding necessary to… Aw screw it that face is just too sad.

"Also… your company is great. This is like the first time I'm here at Beacon with you gone… it's kind of…" _Empty? No…._ "Cold?"

"Cold?" Pyrrha looked up, eyebrow raised.

"Uh… yeah, like it's cold without you here…. I went to the thermostat and it just goes 'Pyrrha is absent, screw you, winter all year baby' and I can't fix the temperature." _Goofy line to dispel any form of…_

Pyrrha laughed uncontrollably, her cheeks visibly heating up. _Oum Dammit, she finds my lameness charming! I CAN'T WIN!_ "Jaune, that is the stupidest compliment I have ever heard in my life!"

"Well, I was told never to take up poetry… or songwriting… or much of anything really."

"Jauuune," Pyrrha, still reigning in her laughter, "no talking down to yourself." After calming her chuckles, Pyrrha did admit, "though they were right about poetry. You would be horrible at that."

"Hey!" Jaune indignantly cried with a laugh of his own. This was him and Pyrrha. This is what he loved… But from this could something be…

*Knock knock knock* a firm rapping came to the JNPR door. Jaune was starting to get used to it, with Yang and physics defying canines always coming to visit. "Hey, Pyrrha, I'll catch you later. If it isn't important expect me to call back soon."

"All right." Pyrrha once again sounded disappointed, "bye Jaune."

Jaune got up to find Weiss and… Zwei, at the door.

"Weiss, why are you…."

"The dog was pawing at the door." Weiss pointed at Zwei, "and I'm here to ask you to help me keep an eye on Yang."

Jaune lifted his eyebrow, "oh, that. I already have Nora keeping an eye on her. Don't worry, she's not partying alone."

"I don't really care for Yang's safety… well, I do care but I'm not worried about it." Weiss stomped her foot. "I care that she may cause trouble like she always does, and with Nora in tow? Drinking?"

"I talked to Nora about it, she promised not to destroy anything and to not let Yang…"

"And no offense, I don't trust Nora to control herself." Weiss pouted. "Look, Blake says I'm being paranoid and I don't wish to take Ruby to that seedy side of the city where Yang is probably, so… you said you owed me a favor for all the annoying attempts at flirting with me…."

"They weren't that annoying…"

"Having Professor Port literally start discussing the best place for pizza and that a 'beautiful white haired heiress' and a 'tactically minded blonde leader' should go meet there in FRONT OF THE ENTIRE CLASS!..."

"No one was paying attention except for you and Pyrrha." Jaune smirked, remembering bribing Port with…. Uhg…. Listening to his Tale: The One that He Never Would have Time to Share in Class….

Weiss sighed, "still, you said you owe me. So, please, let's just make sure our team-mates don't destroy downtown Vale? Does that sound that bad?"

Jaune nodded, "fine, just… are we taking the dog?"

Weiss raised her arms and immediately flung them down, "Zwei seemed desperate to leave the room for some reason, so I guess he is."

Jaune looked at the dog and saw something glint in Zwei's eyes… a glint that showed urgency.

Why Jaune felt that from the dog remained a mystery to him as he left with Weiss to keep an eye on Yang and Nora.

* * *

"Another round!" Yang called out, pointing to herself and Nora. Nora sighed. It came to the point where she would simply dump whatever Yang brought to her on the floor. Her head was buzzing and her vision was swimming. She could walk, she could talk, and she could think, but she reached her limit…. Again. She really hated how this stuff made her feel.

Yang took her shot like it was lemonade, and gave a relaxed sigh. "Isn't this great Nora! The music! The drinks! The atmosphere! Bar K is the best!"

Nora did have to admit, if it weren't for the fact she felt all of her limbs were on painkillers, this would be her place. Everyone was smiling, jumping around, or laughing at the bar. While some things were certainly scandalous… the suspicious poles placed along the dance floor welcomed lewd behavior, Nora just loved how happy and celebratory the place was.

"Oum. My. Monty are those who I think they are?" Yang slurred, tapping Nora on the shoulder. Nora looked over to see Yang looking at three girls sitting and chatting… well, a short girl was being silent.

"You got to meet these two, they are good friends of mine!" Yang said in a way that made Nora doubt that, but since she barely felt her body she let Yang drag her to the patrons.

Of the three girls, two were obviously twins. One wore a white dress while the other wore red. The third and silent one was dressed more casually, with tight jeans, some kind of vest with numerous necklaces adorning her exposed upper chest. Her hair and eyes were also oddly mismatched, but Nora blamed that on the alcohol in her system, messing with her vision.

"Hey, Mala-kinkies! Fancy seeing you away from Junior's! Get better jobs?" She then looked at the shorter girl, "hey! Who's your friend?"

The one in white sighed, "you got to be kidding me."

The one in red glared, "we are on our day off, leave us be!"

"Oh come on! Just because I trashed your club and beat you two up once doesn't mean we can't be friends!" Yang smiled, "also, are you seriously not going to introduce me to tye-dye over here?"

"I wouldn't really call that tye-dye," Nora slurred. _bE a mAttre aDuuult_ her mind warbled.

"Here! I'll introduce my friend! Her name is Nora Valkyrie and…."

Nora didn't really have the reaction time to gauge what she witnessed, but from what she gathered, at the mention of her name, the short girl's eyes widened, a smirk revealed, and suddenly a boot was placed immediately into her chest, knocking her across the club, ramming into a group of people.

She shook her head as she looked up to see Yang getting angry and swinging at the diminutive girl, only to be… flipped behind the bar? Nora had no idea she lost track of what happened between all those flips. She then found the girl walking towards her, brandishing an umbrella like a rapier.

Nora loved a fight, but her limbs were like pool tubes, and she didn't have Magnhild. She could throw a mean punch and wrestle like a boss, especially someone so small, but she knew that….

Suddenly, through the recesses of her under-the-influence mind, the chant that told her to be a responsible adult lessened. Suddenly, the power that was Nora transcended all inhibitions, all fears, all paranoias, and simply became pure Nora. And what did Nora want to do?

"BAR FIGHT!" Nora cried, as she leapt onto the girl, whose eyes widened in surprise as the tackle brought her to the ground, Nora placing her in a headlock.

"Weren't expecting that were ya!" Nora jeered, only to suddenly feel the world overturn as she landed flat on her back. Her arm was still wrapped around the petite girl's neck, but the lady was contorting in was that allowed her to kick her… in her tender spot.

"Uhg… Ren always told me this hurts more for guys…" she thought aloud. Still, the pain was enough to loosen her grip, which allowed the lady to grab her arm, perform a snake-bite, and twist herself out of her grasp.

Nora's arms were numb, but still stung as she got herself back up. "Where the hell are the bouncers" she heard one patron scream, to which she replied, "I dunno."

Little did Nora know is that the bouncers asked the little girl to provide photo identification to prove her age. That's what happened to the bouncers.

Nora turned to face the little girl to find her gone. She tried to focus, look for her attacker. Her view bobbed up and down as her head wavered from the beating and the booze. Suddenly, she felt something grasp her throat. It wasn't a hand, nor was it metal… it was…. plastic? What was the material for non-wood umbrella hooks?

She was dragged with minimal effort out of the club and into an alleyway, where she once again found the little girl staring her down, silently snickering. Nora tried to stand up but she was immediately pushed down by the parasol.

 _Am I going to die tonight?_ Her mind asked, _BY AN UMBRELLA?_ She couldn't allow that.

She reached for her scroll to summon Magnhild, only for it to be flicked away. _Okay, that was dumb… but I'm drunk!... Oh shit I'm drunk._ The realization hit Nora. How could she fight this lady off if she could barely control her body?

She was then hit again with the umbrella, knocking her further down the alley. She could feel her aura drop. Sizeable as it was, this girl's strikes seemed powerful. She was doomed.

She was going to die.

 _Well…. at least I died a mature adult…_ Nora took solace as she was about to close her eyes. She attributed the odd calmness to her inebriation.

"POLI?" A familiar voice screamed, "why the…. How the…. What the Hell are you doing?"

The girl looked up, and Nora saw her mismatched eyes grow three sizes.

"J-Jaune?" She asked.

"Woof." Zwei barked.

* * *

 **A/N: Neo vs. Drunk Nora, the fight NOBODY asked for, done briefly and ending with me having Neo speak. Oh what have I done?**

 **Also, sorry this took a while. I had to rewrite some bits due to the fact that originally Yang was going to be drunk the entire day, and Jaune was going to be notified during the Neo fight to head downtown. But then I realized, Yang, (even if I get her wrong sometimes) would NOT be drunk the entire day, she would let loose at night, but she wouldn't be drunk during her Team's celebration. So I had to change some scenes to make Yang sober.**

 **Also, I realized that for Jaune to interrupt the fight at the end if he was at Beacon when it started, I had to do two things. 1: Write an overly long action sequence, which are not my forte, and 2: Somehow make Nora, drunk or sober, plausibly survive that long. Even if I make Nora a better fighter than Yang she still would be overmatched, especially without Magnhild, which you would NOT be allowed to take into a bar. And Nora was trying to be responsible!**

 **So… I had to give Jaune a reason to be in Vale so he could interrupt the fight, and the idea of Weiss just tailing Yang so she didn't do anything unseemly seemed reasonable enough…**

 **You'll find out how Jaune and Zwei got separated from Weiss next chapter, let's just say… well, she was in Vale for Yang.**

 **Until then, Fave! Follow! Review! Don't Drink and Fight, Assault is a Crime and You Aren't In the Condition to Fight Well…**


	6. Meaner than a Junkyard Dog

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, and its conception to Monty Oum.**

* * *

"Poli?"

"J-Jaune?"

"Woof"

"*hic* NORA!" Nora instinctively replied. She loved doing that, even in certain death while inebriated.

The girl Jaune called 'Poli' looked uncertain; almost nervous, until she disappeared. Nora laid down on the ground, stupefied, until she felt Jaune's arms drag her up.

"Who…" Nora felt the need to ask, "who was that?" Nora would admit that if she was drunk, she would naturally be bested by anyone with combat talent. However, the way that lady performed, seemed to be someone she should fear. The fact Jaune knew her made her shiver. _What did someone as incompetent in combat as Jaune do to survive?_

Jaune looked at Nora. "Remember that sister who ran away from home?…"

* * *

Neapolitan Arc was her name. Her name was unusually long, so most called her either "Nea," or "Poli." She assumed "Tan" was an even stupider name than either of those two.

She decided that she couldn't use her real name while she ran away to discover herself. She then adopted the first typo she ever made, "Neo." She meant to write "Nea," like she was supposed to, but instead, her handwriting made her "a" look like an "o," the rest was history.

Besides, "Neo" had an edge to it. No one would be intimidated by "Poli" or "Nea," but "Neo," damn did that sound menacing. It made her feel like… the One… who's going to kick your ass.

So she wrote that down after taking her vow of silence. She was never talkative to begin with; not allowing herself to speak was easy. All of the Arcs were talkers, and in a philosophical rebellion against her former family, she decided she would make her mark without words.

She even started to hate not only her foolish parents, but the sisters that allowed it to happen. However, she couldn't hate her brother, Jaune.

Jaune rebelled. Even if his views on the Huntsmen and Huntresses were different from hers, Jaune's desire to follow in their footsteps were not ones of pride, but one out of a genuine interest in being a hero: a desire not to help himself but people around him. She respected that. She viewed all the huntsmen being prideful individuals who only sought glory.

She would NEVER call her fight the "good" fight. She killed people: at times she even enjoyed it…. Okay all of the time she enjoyed it. The adrenaline of a victory packed with the resounding conclusion of a victim's last words. It was a bit sickening if she dwelled on her psyche too much, but hey! That was life… and death.

However, she didn't fancy herself as "evil," just "bad." Society had no place for people like her: people who wanted to just be quiet, be left alone, and not be a cog in some societal machine. Agreed, she was now a pawn in a plot of some sneering bitch, but she wasn't obligated to it. She just thought it would be fun. Play a student! Tear down a city! Leave the world to the anarchists and let the institutions crumble! Let man be what man was supposed to be: savage! She smiled at that thought, but then frowned.

However, there was a small list- an incredibly small list- of people she didn't want in the crossfire, and one of them was her baby brother Jaune. Agreed, his naiveté was sickening at best and obnoxious at worst, but there wasn't anything _fake_ or _constructed_ about him. Jaune was the one family member that looked to her not as some freak but as a sibling, equal to her stuffy stupid sisters. He was the one face she missed when she ran away. Neo could also imagine Jaune as being the only one to truly miss her.

While she held a grudge to her parents, she had one thing to thank them for: gymnastics classes. While the excuse was "to give her exercise," it was clear they wanted her, "to socialize and become a normal girl who lived a normal life." She didn't do well in that regard, but the exercise, Oum did she succeed! Those gymnastics lessons served her well when she joined a roving circus as "The Notorious Neo!" It was cheesy, but the circus led her down a lot of profitable avenues. The ring-master unlocked her aura (because it made her less likely to get injured) and it gave her connections to the criminal underground…. It was not a clean circus troupe. There were drugs, deals, and a little bit of sex for Lien.

Then she met Roman Torchwick, who, after seeing her fight (she had to learn to defend herself against some of the more grabby members of the troupe) hired her as his personal guard.

A weaponized umbrella later, she was now one of the most feared ladies in Vale: all without saying a word.

Then, she did something she thought she'd never do: she went back home.

At the dead of night, she remembered visiting him. Finally with his own room after some sisters moved out so he could have his "man privacy," he so often desired. Neo couldn't help but snicker. Jaune was the one tie she had to possibly being a decent human being.

She owed him a little something, just for being the one person who never made her feel like an outcast outside of the circus and Torchwick.

"Hey Jaune…" Neo whispered, her voice raspy from lack of use.

Jaune woke up, then his eyes widened, he looked like he was about to shout so Neo covered his mouth. "Shhh, don't let them know." She stated simply. "You gonna be quiet?" Jaune sheepishly nodded. Neo removed her hand.

"Uh… hey, it's been a while." Jaune whispered, giving that usual awkward smile.

"Don't sugar coat it." Neo sighed, "I'm here to give you a favor."

"What?"

"You're the only family member I like. For leaving you, I owe you a favor."

"How about coming back?"

"That's not happening, something else."

Jaune sighed, and seemed to think deeply. "What kind of favor can you do?"

"Almost anything." She smiled at her brother. An actual happy and not malicious smile. It felt weird on her face.

"Can you…." Jaune looked at her suspiciously, "forge some documents?"

 _Something illegal? My my Jaune you are making me proud!_ "I can't," Neo admitted, "but I know someone who can. Want me to put you in contact?"

Jaune looked nervous, but there was a conviction in him. _What is he planning: Nope! Not my place to ask. I don't want people to pry into me, it would be hypocritical to pry into him._ "Yes. Please." Jaune replied

Apparently, from what she could guess, it was Beacon transcripts. Here was her brother, helping that Nora girl up to her feet. She had the luck to catch her drunk, but now… well… she was confused.

She stood invisible, and was glad that everyone confused her semblance for teleportation. It allowed her to observe things without being seen.

This Nora girl… he knew her. Was she her girlfriend? By the way they were acting it seemed that way, but then again Jaune was probably too dense to notice any attraction from the thankful girl. He's explaining herself to Nora… _Damn, does he never talk about family? Well, it would make sense, to go to Beacon he had to run away too._

Nora was her team-mate…. Wait. The mission. She was told they had to kill two people who were on the same team. One guy. One girl. Roman would take care of the guy, and she would take care of Nora. She didn't ask the name of the guy, she didn't need the name, but… was the guy…. Her brother?

She had to leave. If Cinder wanted her brother dead, she had to know why, and even if she wasn't strong enough… well, as she said.

Jaune should never be caught in the crossfires.

* * *

Weiss was beyond appalled. No, appalled was too kind of a word. She was beyond furious! No… still too mellow…

Weiss's anger was like a wretched supernova that consumed galaxies until all of space collapsed under the searing heat, until all that remained in the universe were memes.

Memes about how ANGRY SHE IS!

Yang had revealed Ember Celica: the fact they looked like harmless bracelets when not activated always frustrated Weiss on how often Yang could sneak them in to "No Weapon Zones," like this drinking establishment.

Jaune saw Nora tossed into the scuffle, and went to retrieve her, and Zwei inexplicably followed him. No matter, Yang was now Weiss's responsibility, and by Oum did she wish she was taking care of Ruby off of a sugar high.

Her team-mate was blasting at two girls in admittedly fashionable dresses, who danced around the brawler as she sloppily let out shotgun bursts. Normally Yang's fighting style was not "proper form," but this was egregious! She assumed Yang was too drunk to fight… or at least too drunk to fight _well_.

This continued as Yang was then kicked to the bar, and Yang exclaimed, "Listen you bitches! Your friend attacked my friend! Unless you want a flippin' fist to the face," Yang pronounced the "fs" like a child learning how to pronounce "ph," "Then stop her and leave me alone!"

"We don't find ourselves accountable for Neo's offenses," said the girl in the white dress.

"We also know that you struck us first!" said the girl in the red dress.

"We didn't attack your friend!" said white dress.

"And we weren't interested in beating you!" said red dress.

"But since you insist on a fight…."

"We are happy to oblige!"

"Oh FOR OUM'S SAKE!" Weiss roared, diverting the attention to the twins to the Schnee heiress, "get away from Yang." Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at them (for some reason, there were no bouncers to object to the weapon) "or trust me, you will regret it!"

"Oh look, sister, we have-"

Weiss darted in and knocked both the girls on their asses, and then returned to her original position. "Save your stupid dialogue for someone who gives a shit!" Weiss rarely swore, but she was having none of it tonight. Yang had infuriated her enough: these two were going to be human sized stress balls if they continued harassing herself or her team-mate. "Scram!"

The two girls looked at each other, and sighed, "why is it that high level huntress students want to cause trouble." One said.

"Yeah, it's way beyond our pay grade…. And we're even off for the day!" The other replied.

The two got up and sullenly left, leaving Weiss with the shit-faced Yang. She groaned, "at least you were decent enough to not drink all day," she told herself.

"Well," Yang, having somehow heard Weiss, "if I drank a lot during the day, I couldn't drink that much at night!" Weiss shook her head. "What?" Yang objected, "it's my nineteenth birthday, it is absolutely essential I discover my limit!"

"It doesn't matter if you discover your limit then forget it the next morning!" Weiss cried. "Look… how about we go home?"

"Ursashit!" Yang exclaimed, "the night is still young! Where's Nora? Wait…" suddenly Yang's eyes expanded, "where IS Nora? She was being attacked by some short stack and…"

"Jaune's taking care of it…" Weiss reaffirmed. While she did doubt Jaune's combat talent, he could take on some crazy lady who was probably drunk off her ass. It wasn't like she was a trained assassin. "Look, Yang, we're going to meet up with them, and then we're going back to Beacon."

"Aw c'mon! It's my nineteenth birthday!"

"It won't be in around an hour," Weiss reminded her, "and I don't care if you're older than me, we're getting back!"

"Nah, this is just something to shake off and move to the next bar…. Wait, how are you here?" She gave Yang a lazy glare, "are you also secretly 19 like Nora was?"

"The bouncers were missing," Weiss stated, as she took Yang's hand to forcibly drag her. Yang may weigh more but someone with little composure as a drunk wasn't too difficult to forcibly move. "Also, I'm a Schnee, no one would dare say no to me."

"Woah, bold words there Weiss!" Yang slurred, "but you are not Schneeded here! Geddit, Schneeded? Like need, but…"

"I got it," Weiss snapped, still dragging Yang outside. "Look, let's reconvene with Nora and…." Weiss suddenly noticed a dumpster shaking. She walked over there to see two brutally injured men wrapped in leather bindings and duct tape on their mouths..

"Oh look! The bouncers!" Yang piped up as Weiss groaned. "Hmm…. Kinky leather straps boys, want me to…."

"Yang! They need help! Not… innuendo." Weiss tried to tip the dumpster to let them out, but she wasn't strong enough. "Yang, help me out here!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Yang effortlessly tipped the dumpster to its side, having the leather bound bouncers bounce out, along with some nasty smelling trash bags. Weiss gagged a little bit as Yang knelt down and tore the duct tape off of the bouncers.

"Shawcross and Luna! That short bitch!" One of the bouncers cursed. Both were breathing heavily, relieved to be able to breathe through their mouths and use their voices.

"Wait… short bitch?" Yang suddenly asked, a serioiusness penetrating her drunkenness. "Did she have mismatched hair, mismatched eyes, and an umbrella?"

"Yeah!" The second bouncer exclaimed, "I honestly think I can't look at an umbrella again! I think even the tiny umbrellas in drinks will give me trauma!"

Yang face hardened, "we got to find Nora, NOW!" The strong girl grabbed Weiss as she started to drag her.

"HEY! Yang! Let go!" She tore her arm away, "look, they're standard bouncers, just because someone could defeat them in battle doesn't mean she's that dangerous to Nora! Her aura is sizeable and she might even be physically stronger than you!... No offense." Yang didn't seem to take offense, either with concern or alcohol affecting her emotions.

"Still, we should…. Oh hey Nora! Jaune!... Zwei?" Yang then turned violently at Weiss, eyes glowing red, "WHY DID YOU BRING ZWEI HERE?"

"He wanted to come! Whimpering and pawing at the door! What was I supposed to do?" Weiss was NOT intimidated by Yang's anger, she had her father, Yang was about as intimidating as Zwei in that regard.

"Leave him whimpering and pawing at the door!" Yang retorted simply, "I can't believe you! Clearly you're here without Ruby because you don't want her here, yet you're willing to take a small corgi? Does that even make sense?"

 _No_ , Weiss realized, _it doesn't make sense._ Still, she was a Schnee, and she wouldn't take shit from Yang. "Ruby has no place seeing her sister in this state! At least Zwei is dumb enough to not comprehend your embarrassing condition!"

"Embarrassing?" Yang's eyes then returned to lilac. "Okay then, clearly you aren't drunk enough."

"I'm completely sober!"

"Exactly," despite the clear slur in her words, there was some kind of serious determination in her voice, "you said as a Schnee you could do anything. So. You're going drinking with me."

"What? Why would I…."

"Weiss, Weiss, Weiss…" she cracked her knuckles, "do you want me to share the photos I took of… the whipped cream incident?"

Weiss's face paled. _Oh Oum no….. Oh Miles No…. Oh Kerry No…._

"Um…." Weiss heard Jaune's voice, "you know we're still here right?"

"Oh yeah!" Yang exclaimed turning to the two, "can you both please do me the favor of returning Zwei…. Again…. To our room? Nora, I found a new party buddy, you're still welcome to tag along."

"Oh!" Nora seemed to giggle, "I'm all partied out, thanks!" _She's slurring much less than Yang, it's almost as if she's sober…._ Weiss observed.

"Fine then! Weiss! To the next bars!" A strong grip suddenly was felt at the cloth beneath her nape, as she was indignantly dragged.

"Fine!" Weiss acknowledged, "but one drink!"

* * *

"I feel…. Really sober right now." Nora stated as she, Jaune, and Zwei walked to the bullhead station to return to Beacon.

"Maybe it was the adrenaline of the fight. Allowed you to cycle through the booze? Maybe you sweated it out?" Jaune knew that that wasn't how it worked, but how was he supposed to explain…

"Zwei did it, didn't he?" Nora looked at the small pup, "you somehow lessened the alcohol in my system."

"Woof." The dog replied.

"Still," Nora yawned, "while my body is less 'buzzy,' I still feel tired, I don't think I can do any training things tonight…."

"That's fine." Jaune stated simply. He was still reeling. He thought he could handle any surprise thrown at him after he simply accepted Zwei's otherworldly powers, but seeing his sister… menacingly hovering over Nora… he didn't know what to think of it.

They got into the bullhead, and Jaune didn't get sick as he held onto Zwei. While he attributed Nora's newfound sobriety and his resilience to motion to Zwei's activated powers, he also knew he puked enough on the way there… with Weiss watching.

He may have gotten over her, but it was still embarrassing.

"So your sister is why you're here, huh?" Nora stated, surprising Jaune, "she led you to the fake transcripts."

"Basically," Jaune mentioned simply. She wasn't surprised Nora knew she was a fraud: apparently she and Pyrrha have "girl talks," and he could imagine himself being brought up… Why did his beautiful partner have a crush on him again?

"Whatever her actions are, it isn't your fault." Nora mentioned. The bullhead was mostly empty due to the fact it was in that grace hour of 'before-the-bars-closed' and 'too-late-for-a-normal-human-being.' Jaune and Nora could talk openly.

"I know," Jaune admitted, "but… I guess it's horrifying to think your own family would attempt to kill a team-mate and… a close friend."

Nora seemed to redden. "Close friend…."

"Yes," Jaune reaffirmed. "Nora, you are important to me. Pyrrha may be number one, but you and Ren tie for number two. Remember what you told me yesterday as you placed Zwei in third?"

"Oh… yeah…" Nora looked down. "But seriously, Jaune…. She stopped when she saw you. She may be a killer, but it didn't stop her from loving you…."

Jaune looked at his team-mate in silence.

"I saw the look in her eyes, even in my drunken state… she was someone who had killed before. She almost took joy in it, but when she saw you, she stopped.

"Listen, I've become addicted to the defeat of my adversaries in sparring… I can only imagine its one step towards murder, and the feeling is similar… the feeling of victory over another… and I can tell you, I don't stop for anyone. She still loves you… and if she didn't, I wouldn't be alive right now." Nora looked deeply into Jaune's eyes. "Thank you."

Jaune didn't know what to say. It wasn't like Nora was forgiving his sister… but attempted to understand her, something Jaune didn't even bother to do. "No," Jaune replied. "Thank you."

They reached Beacon, and Nora went straight to bed. Jaune returned Zwei, who did his whole 'hole in the door' routine, before going to the bathroom. He needed his pre-sleep piss.

He did his business, and turned around to see Poli looking at him. "Don't worry," the voice sounded raspy, as if she never used it, "I wouldn't look at you pissing."

"P-" the all too familiar hand covered his mouth. "Shhhh…. I snuck in here to see you. I don't want to see anyone else."

Jaune nodded, agreeing to the transgression. Poli removed her hand from his mouth.

"Poli." Jaune stated simply, "why did you try to kill my team-mate?"

"I was ordered to," Poli stated simply, "someone wants her… and you… dead."

Jaune flashed back to the eldritch evil that apparently had to be vanquished with the assistance of the beast. It had to be them. Who else would target him?

"Jaune, I didn't know your intent was to fake your way into beacon." Her sister stated.

"And I didn't know you killed people." There was more scorn in his voice then he wanted, but then again, killing people was kind of a big deal deserving scorn.

"I do." Poli responded. "And I enjoy it. I've always hated people and you know it. The way they are fake and obnoxious… besides, humans are animals. Animals kill their own kind all the time."

"We're more civilized than that."

"The civilization is more oppressive than revolutionary. Look, I'm not here to debate or convince you I'm a good person." The mismatched eyes of his sister gazed into his, "I'm here to inform and protect you."

"Fine. Who wants me dead?"

"A monster."

Jaune was silent. He knew the evil that apparently he was destined to defeat with a mutha-flippin' corgi was probably massive, but having someone as chillingly confident as his runaway sister call something as massive as 'a monster,' still unnerved him.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Surrender, maybe." She shrugged, "but if they want to kill you… they have a reason… they fear you…. why?" She gave a confused look towards Jaune. "No offense… but… I mean, I guess you survived this long but I doubt…"

"I'm not that strong." He confirmed for his sister. "I may… have something she wants. Maybe. I don't know." _Can I trust my sister with the information I have on Zwei?_

Poli grunted, "fair enough. I don't care why she wants to kill you… but I care that she DOES what to kill you." She disappeared. Poli was never able to do that. She did the same thing when he got the contact info of a professional forger… Jaune gathered it was her semblance.

Was his sister going to protect him and Nora? Only time will tell.

* * *

Ozpin looked at the footage from the bathroom. _What? It's not like I have cameras in the stalls. I'm not a total pervert, I just know that important and private conversations happen in bathrooms! It's important to me as my role as Headmaster!_

As Ozpin justified himself to people who weren't technically there, he replayed the conversation. The fact that Torchwick's best henchwoman was Jaune's runaway sister… Ozpin was intrigued.

He wouldn't dare impose upon her, a person like that would only reject his help, as well as a person like Ozpin could only with conscious turn her in for her crimes. So he simply observed.

 _Ah… I just hope none of you shipped those two, this reveal would be quite embarrassing… unless you think incest was kinky!_

* * *

 **A/N: Short chapter, I know, but it came out quickly! Considering the response to the last chapter, with everyone going "OMG Neo and Jaune KNOW each other" I thought I should answer the "why" ASAP, especially since I thought I was obvious in Chapter 4. I mean, his runaway sister took an umbrella? C'MON I was practically HANDING the hints to y'all!**

 **I'm not demeaning you lovely readers, I'm just surprised I was more subtle than I thought.**

 **Anyway, the idea for Neo being a sister of Jaune came after V3E11, where I was like, "you know… we don't know anything about Neo… wouldn't it be HILARIOUS for her to be one of Jaune's seven sisters!" I could only imagine the odd number of Jaune X Neo shippers (probably because of the amazingly written Professor Arc or the equally amazing Immortal) just wanting to bleach their brains after realizing that Neo and Jaune were sister and brother… unless if they thought incest was kinky, as Ozpin stated.**

 **So… yeah. I mean, that idea could make a fic alone, but it would probably just be angsty drama… so I just made it a fact in this fic. It's also a fact in my other fic, Weiss vs. Atlas, though it will never be stated or directly referenced. Hell, who knows, it could be canon! How could someone as hapless as pre-Volume 1 Jaune get his hand on fake transcripts… seriously? Will they ever explain that?**

 **Also… this was uploaded earlier, but it wasn't updating the story! I didn't know if it was that I uploaded too soon but… well…. I mean, I want new readers and lurkers to see it! Don't judge me! So I deleted the chapter, reuploaded it… and then… yeah, just to make sure it would visibly upload… sorry.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Discover Your Long Lost Criminal and Murderer Sister!**


	7. Barking Up Some Trees

**A/N: Sorry if the humor hasn't been as prevalent as it had been in previous chapters, probably because of the lack of Zwei and his absurd antics. That should change, as Ozpin stated, sometimes a writer has got to give some exposition. I hope at least the character moments, while maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, were enjoyable enough to give you a smile… and then I make you gasp when I look at a short psychopath and a tall goofball and go: "siblings, duh."**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Goodwitch's open office hours during the weekend were early in the morning, probably to encourage healthy sleeping schedules even during days off. While Jaune was a follower of the train of thought, "Carpe-Sleep-in," rather than "Carpe Diem," this was important enough for him to bite the bullet, set an alarm, drag himself out of bed, and start his day by talking to the strict disciplinarian that struck fear into the hearts of trained warriors… and even more so to himself.

Her door was open, and Jaune tepidly knocked, "…hello?" Professor Goodwitch wasn't there. _Curious…._ They were open office hours, so he just let himself in and sat down in the chair facing the much more lavish chair in front of the well-organized desk. He looked around the room. Everything was pristine, neat, and screamed of near OCD perfection. Then again, if your semblance is telekinesis, you can clean your entire room with one flick of the wrist while you sit down… It's much more time consuming for semblance-less plebeians like Jaune.

Jaune wondered if his semblance, when he finally discovered it, would be as cool as his sister's teleportation: at least, that's what he assumed it was.

His eyes fell onto a bookcase, filled with a variety of principally informational reading. _So You're a Teacher, Now What? How to Reach into Troubled Youths. Ninjas of Love. Starting Your Day Right and Still Being Happy…._ Wait, what was that last one?

He looked at the book and recognized it as the smut book Nora once blabbed about Blake having. How Nora knew he had no idea, but it was Ren's place to pry and scold, not his. He then scanned the bookshelf and saw a tiny little corner… hidden from view by a cleverly placed briefcase leaning on it.

 _Ninjas of Love II: Stealthy Seduction. Love PENETRATES Deeper than Aura_ (Did the title REALLY need to exaggerate the word, "penetrate?") _Some like it Rough, Some like it Dirty, and Some Want it All. When Students Stay After Class…._

"Ahem, Mr. Arc!" Jaune immediately jumped up, looking at a glaring Goodwitch giving him the stinkeye.

"Heh, heh… I was waiting for you and… uh… just wanted to see if there was a book I could read to pass the…"

"I was simply using the restroom, Mr. Arc!" Goodwitch sternly interjected, "but I'll ignore your unnecessary snooping… if you tell NO ONE!"

Jaune made a sound that could only be described as a 'meep.' "Yes ma'am!"

Goodwitch did not smile. "Good, now, why are you here?"

"Oh, yes!" Jaune shifted back into the chair as she waited for Goodwitch to go to hers. "I… well…. I wanted to rent a combat training facility after standard curfew hours."

The professor raised an eyebrow, "and why would you want that?"

"Dog training."

"Dog training? Why…." Goodwitch's eyes then drooped, and she shook her head. "You are really going to humor Ozpin, aren't you?"

"Well, I mean… it seems wrong not to: train the dog not the… Ozpin thing. If what I've got from the story is true, we should probably get started ASAP. As you said, 'don't make today a missed opportunity!'"

Goodwitch glared at Jaune. "Mr. Arc, do yourself a favor and never quote me to myself ever again…. Or I will pair you up with Yang…. And sneakily remove a hair after a sword swipe…"

Jaune gulped, "I thought… your telekinesis didn't work on anything with an aura…"

"I have my ways… And you don't want to know them."

Was it too late to return to nest of Deathstalkers he and Nora must've walked past two days ago? Clearly it would be much less frightening and more welcoming than this.

"Very well," Glynda stated, "if you are to take the responsibility to train the mythical beast without bringing attention to yourself, there's a secret vault we have underneath the school. No one will bother you there, and I'm confident Ozpin will approve. I'll send directions and access codes to Nora's and your scroll, as well as an approved timetable." Glynda then hardened her already hard glare, "and there is surveillance inside the vault. You better only use it for the approved activities."

Jaune gave the Professor a strange look, "what else would Nora and I be doing down in a secluded vault?" He then lifted his eyebrows before shifting his gaze to the books in that secretive corner… as a briefcase seemed to move on its own to cover up the titles.

Goodwitch checked her nose for some reason, before sternly dismissing Jaune. Jaune nervously backed out from the door and walked a sizeable distance from the office before he couldn't help but giggle a bit. _Did Glynda just… imagine Nora and I getting busy in an underground vault?_

He wondered if in the even the associate Headmistress found out about his fake transcripts, he could use her reading habits as blackmail. Not the most noble of fantasies, but then again, neither were hers.

* * *

 _When Nora was asked to be the Maid of Honor at Weiss's wedding, she was shocked. She was more shocked that the groom had a blue monkey tail and wore goggles that clashed with his tuxedo. She was most shocked that Weiss seemed okay with this._

 _"Did you remember to pack the popcorn?" asked Ren, who was one of the bridesmaids. Of course she remembered to pack the popcorn! She was already holding it! She looked down to see instead of the traditional bouquet of flowers was a bag of popcorn._

 _The ceremony was about to begin as Pastor Ozwitch started to sing the song of matrimony, until the church doors boomed open, "I object!" Screamed Jaune, holding something in his arms._

 _"What?" Everyone screamed, except for the sentient pipe organ who just shrugged._

 _"The wedding can't happen because I have an announcement…" Jaune then screamed epically, "I have just given birth to Nora's child!" He raised his arms, revealing a corgi with apposable thumbs and feet._

 _"Woof," her child cried._

 _Nora's mind was a whirl. "When did Jaune and I… How did he keep this a secret from me… Why?"_

 _"How did you impregnate my brother?" Suddenly, a short bridesmaid walked up with an umbrella and stabbed her through her heart._

"GAAAAAHHH!" Nora woke up with a start. Not the weirdest dream she's had, but certainly the first that involved Jaune giving birth to an odd humanoid dog and claimed it to be hers…. Nora rarely thought of anatomy and genetics but she had a strong suspicion that that's not how things work.

She groaned and rolled out of bed, landing on the floor with a mighty *thump.* Last night was insane. Second time she'd gotten drunk, and first time she was almost… murdered. She shivered a bit, recalling the ending to her recent dream. If it weren't for the fact she was practically numb all over it would have been an emotionally intense moment. Now all she felt was slight anxiety, a hope that that wouldn't happen again, rather than lingering panic caused by trauma.

Well… she stopped at least. Crazy lady that also happened to be Jaune's sister. She didn't really look much like him, but with seven siblings, she could imagine they could run all the genetic combinations of their parents, including a genetic mutant: unusually short, mismatched hair and eyes, a smile that just looked naturally evil. Evil smiles were genetic, right?

Well, it's not like a bad thing that Jaune had a psychotic murderer on their side…. It's like in all the Young Adult novels she read, there was that one character that always "took it too far," but "damn, were they good allies."

Then again, though, why would "Poli" want her dead in the first place? She didn't remember much, but the assault did start when she was referred to by name. Was she on a hit-list?

She quivered a bit. Nora had felt danger before, but she never felt _targeted._ She had to figure out why… she had to…

Did it have anything to do with Zwei? Was Jaune's sister working for the ancient evil?

 _Nah! That would be absurd! Unless even Poli herself doesn't know it…_

She went over to the massive tome and turned to the pages Jaune bookmarked. She groaned at the small text, but she steadied herself and started combing through the tale, looking for clues.

Her attention could barely capture it. She could grasp at a couple sentences but she just grew frustrated. Where was the motion? The image? The excited voice that could breathe life into a tale? All she saw were stationary words that provided nothing of merit except the promise of boredom. She sighed, how does Ren do this?

She got some details about the evil they had to face, but nothing she didn't already hear from throughout her life: Grimm. Well, they weren't called Grimm but it was obvious. She chastised her inability to focus and decided to take a shower. Maybe if she cleared her mind with some good shower thoughts….

She got into her towel and walked to the bathroom, and got prepared to…..

Suddenly she was pushed against the wall, a pair of mismatched eyes she was eerily familiar with staring at her.

The girl Nora recognized as Poli just stared at her, staring her down. Poli was fully clothed, but didn't seem off-put by the soon-to-be-naked Nora.

She let go, dropping Nora to the floor, as she moved a metal bar and jammed the door, making it so no one could enter. If Poli wanted her dead, Poli would've snapped her neck when she got the jump on Nora… So, clearly murder wasn't in Nora's future… at least wasn't GUARENTEED to be in her future.

"Uh… hi! I've always wanted to meet some of Jaune's family!" Nora gave a smile as the girl gave a soundless snort and walked over to her, making a gesture beckoning her t to stand.

The multicolored girl then turned on the hot water, letting steam raise from the sinks. On one of the mirrors was written, _I don't care if you live, or die. Only Jaune._ Okay, this girl gets straight to the point… and didn't want to speak.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to… I dunno, write it down on your scroll or a notep-AH!" Her suggestion was interrupted by a heel to her chest, once again pinning her to the wall. "Okay…" Nora muttered, gasping for air, "you want to seem menacing and cool, I get it!"

After a soundless sigh, Nora was once gain released by Poli's foot. Nora, breathing hard, said, "*puff* you know I know you *huff* can talk… no need *puff* for whatever silly game you're *huff* playing."

Nora received an annoyed look, as the shorter girl went into her pocket, pulling out a scroll. After typing a couple words, Poli showed it to Nora. _Don't care. I only speak to people I deem worth speaking too. You are not one of them._

And Nora thought Ren was cold. No matter, she was Nora! Murdering sister of his fearless leader who doesn't like the sound of her own voice: she could work with that!

Maybe.

"So…. Uh… I assume since I'm alive, you have something to say- I mean- tell me?" Nora chose her words carefully. Poli seemed all the seriousness of Ren with none of the kindness or patience.

She revealed her scroll, _My employer had been told to kill you and Jaune. Explain to me why your life is worth saving._

Nora stood still, armored only in a towel. She was to plead for her life? Panic seeped into her lungs, she needed Jaune. She needed Jaune by her side….

She meant Ren. She needed Ren. But she was alone.

"Uh…" her happy go lucky attitude was faltering with such a threat. "Jaune wouldn't like it if you kill me."

Neo raised an eyebrow, and typed something. _I don't care how Jaune feels. Try again._

 _This could be going better,_ Nora thought. She was used to her charm to either entertain those around her or annoy people into leaving her alone. Poli wasn't easily amused, nor one to back down. This required tact that she unfortunately lacked… but she was an empathetic creature, and anyone who could possibly care for another human being (in this case this psychopath's brother) was possible of empathic mercy, she just needed to press the right buttons.

"Because…" _think Nora, think!_ "Your employer wants me AND Jaune dead, the fact that if I died will not stop them trying to kill your bro?" She gave a nervous smile. Nora planned her escape in her mind. If she had to streak down the hall she'd do it. She'd rather be humiliated than dead.

Poli stared at Nora for a long time, her mismatched eyes giving her the most intense staring contest in her life. Thankfully, she was the staring contest champion! She would never let Ren or Jaune defeat her (Pyrrha never wanted to play) she wouldn't let this pint sized Poli person defeat her!... Or kill her, both were undesirable.

A scroll met Nora's eyes as Poli blinked. _Call me Neo. Why would people target my brother and you?_

Nora sighed in relief. "I mean… only if you promise not to kill anyone or anything we care about, not just us."

Neo glared with annoyed eyes. _No promises. Only results._

"Well then I guess I ca-aa-an't" an umbrella pointed at Nora's throat.

Another hand showed a scroll, _just because your death doesn't help, it doesn't hinder. Tell me what I need to know to save you two._

"Why don't you ask Jaune? I mean…. Don't you trust him more?"

Neo sighed silently. _I will not push Jaune. But I will push you._

"Huh, favoritism much…" Nora thought aloud. She realized that was a mistake.

The towel was ripped from Nora's body, quickly wound, and then snapped across Nora's face. The hammer wielder landed butt naked onto the cold bathroom tile. The towel was then tossed to cover her private bits, not that Nora minded the nudity, she minded how she was toppled so easily. She would be indignant if it weren't for the fact that neither her armor nor weapon was with her… and that she just came here to take a nice shower!

 _Jaune is the only family member I didn't hate, nor hated me, as I grew up. I'm granting you pity because the fact he seems to care about you…_

"Oh! So you do care what he thinks!" _Nora, for the love of Oum stop thinking aloud! I'm sorry! I'm panicking here!_

The girl seemed to wind up but then stopped. She then bowed her head. Her scroll came up, _just tell me, unless you want me to settle your life in a coin toss…. And I always win._

Nora didn't have much of a choice. "Jaune and I seem to be involved in some kind of… prophecy…." _Oh I hope she believes me…_ "something about training a beast to destroy pure evil." Nora felt herself wince, as she waited for the umbrella to plow her again. She didn't even realize she failed to rebind the towel to her body.

Instead, she was met with silence. Well, the silence wasn't that surprising but the fact that there was no feeling of impact on her aura did surprise her. She opened it to see a scroll with text on it. _Believe it or not, I find that plausible. I've seen some weird shit._

Nora released a breath she knew she was holding. "Well, glad you now know… Can I take my shower…" she was interrupted as another typed message was thrust under her face.

 _If I kill this beast, will it make your executions moot?_

 _Good question,_ Nora wondered. "If that's the case… uh… wouldn't you be asked to kill the beast and not us? Killing an animal brings less attention… and I assume your operation wants little attention. So… clearly killing the 'beast' doesn't help, right? Does that makes sense?" _My mouth is running on autopilot and I'm hoping I'm saying the right things. Oh, if only if someone was writing my words for me!_

Neo continued her stone cold glare. Her scroll came up, _fair enough._ She vanished.

Nora could only hope that the remaining six were much more friendly when she inevitably met them… wait? Why was she thinking of meeting them?... Duh, of course, Jaune is a close friend! That's why she wanted to meet his family…

Or maybe she never had a family of her own… She wondered though if family like Neo would be a blessing or a curse.

When Nora exited her steamy shower, she saw the mirror, _Don't tell Jaune what happened here._

* * *

Weiss grasped her head. The soreness that permeated her cranium made her audibly groan, as if she was letting out the pain through her outstretched outburst. _What the Hell did I do?... Oh no… I don't remember._ There was only one thing that preceded a lack of memories of the previous night…. "bad decisions."

She reached for her covers, to pull them in closer to her. They weren't there. She reached for her pillow to further nuzzle her head into it. It wasn't there.

What she did feel were two comforting pressures on either side of her body. They were smooth and comfortable, yet Weiss had an intuition to feel uncomfortable.

She opened her eyes.

"You know, after what happened-"started one Malachite twin

"-apology accepted!" finished the other.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Weiss shrieked.

And from another room, Yang recorded the scene, laughing.

* * *

Neo had attitude. Neo had sass, in spite of being mute. Neo was not the most easy person to work with.

Yet never had Neo refused.

Roman didn't know what to think. His most trusted enforcer of crime did not want to take a life. That was unprecedented. He knew that Neo was a free spirit; that the only reason she answered to him was because he and her share the same view of the world. For her to refuse something was not something he wasn't prepared for. He himself was capable, yet Neo was too good an ally to let go because of one disagreement.

Yet this wasn't his order. This was Cinder's. In spite of that woman's frozen face and scent of uneasiness she gave him, he would never disobey her. She reeked of a power he didn't understand. The fact he was being used made him want to puke every day, and his smoking only increased to calm his nerves. She was not only bad news, she was scary news.

He should've seen this coming; Neo getting sick enough to say "no." Well, maybe not say it literally, but to stand in defiance. Yet he always assumed it would be something HE said, not what someone else he answered to said… Uhg, he almost puked in his mouth by mentally admitting he answered to someone.

When he first asked her to kill, Neo did it without question. It was almost as if she was almost killed during her time at the circus. It's not that she didn't value the lives of others… She valued the life of no one, including herself!

Yet to hear that there was someone she wasn't willing to kill… Roman almost pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. It wasn't a dream for Neo to have a soft spot, but it was so unbelievable that only a dream could conjure such stupidity. Unfortunately, the pain from the pinch was real.

However, Roman respected Neo; they shared a similar philosophy on life and existence and all about those things that people sit in fuzzy chairs or mats contemplating. If Neo didn't want to take a life, there would be a reason he could relate to, something he could…

The boy was her brother. Well, that was unexpected; Roman hated his family: whiny little sister, playing favorites mother, and a father who was always out buying milk.

"What?" Roman exclaimed, "Jaune's a relative of yours?" Naturally he didn't know, not because of Neo's limited communication, but because Roman didn't care what Neo was before. "Well, what's the problem with that! I hate my family, I assumed you hated yours!"

The way Neo looked at him did not confirm his hypothesis, but that this Jaune fellow was an exception. Roman was almost envious. He heard of the Arc household, how fertility was famous… Rumor had it that the current Arc couple, even if living in seclusion, gave birth to over five kids…. That's enough to grow fond of at least ONE while you grow up. Roman didn't have that luxury.

If Neo was the average goon he hired to help him do his dirty work, he would grab Melodic Cudgel and make them regret the day they were CONCEIVED… but this was Neo, not only a powerful ally but someone Roman had grown fond of….. _Hm… maybe that would explain why Neo would want to spare her brother and his friend._

"Well, what do we do?" Roman asked the silent Neo. Neo shrugged, and sat on the couch, twiddling her thumbs. Usually when Neo was lost in thought it was with a malicious smile, but now that was absent. Truly this was a Neo Roman had never seen before.

If this happened a couple months past when he hired her, Neo would be dead on the spot… well…. he would try. Neo was scary, even to him.

He didn't know what to do, if Roman went after Jaune, Neo would either quit or kill him, both things within her power to do. If he DIDN'T go through with this plan, Cinder would kill him. He didn't like his odds against either of these femme fatales. However, he hated Cinder for what she did to him… make him a pawn. Neo was someone who had done nothing but good for him up to this point.

Roman returned from his thoughts to see Neo staring at him with those mismatched eyes. Roman smiled, he liked those eyes of hers. "Okay, we don't kill your stupid brother and his ditzy team-mate." Neo nodded, smiling. "But, I'm sure you thought of this, what do we tell Cinder?"

Neo pointed to herself.

"You'll deal with that yourself?" Roman 'repeated' incredulously. "I mean, you're a better fighter than I am, but Cinder…."

Neo continued to firmly point at herself.

"Fine!" Roman lifted up his arms to rocket them back down, "but I hope you're good at convincing. Has your 'team' accustomed to your preferred way of speaking?"

Neo shrugged.

"You're working on it," Roman reaffirmed. "Look, you may be confident in YOUR odds of survival, but I also have to consider mine!" Roman granted his associate a frustrated grin. "Look, I get it, if I continue on with this, best case scenario you quit, and worst case scenario I die. That is not a gamble I'm willing to make: lose-lose is generally something I prefer not to deal with!"

Neo knowingly nodded. Roman was all too familiar with those mocking eyes that dared to challenge her wordless declaration.

The crime boss sighed, "We'll think of something. Do you have anything that could accomplish the goals without killing them?"

It was then Neo went to the computer, and typed in _Beast and the Two Trainers._

Roman's eyes widened… "you can't be serious…."

Neo nodded, still smiling.

"I thought I was done with that stupid, long fairy tale!"

Neo gave an inquisitive look.

"It was my sister's favorite story…. My mother would read it to us WAY to often to keep her happy. How ironic now that I get to squash that brat's childhood fantasy into the dirt!" Roman snickered, then Roman started thinking. "It makes sense that we would be ordered to kill those two then, and not the beast."

Neo gave a look that signified "why not?"

"Well, since I heard that story WAY too many times," Roman explained, "you kill the beast, its energy for some reason then swirls within the two trainers, and it latches on to the first being less-than-a-human, even a Grimm, and it becomes loyal to them! You kill just one, and then all the power is inherited by the other. The only way to ascertain victory is to kill the two, then kill the beast, or kill the beast in its powered form, which is something beyond our paygrade, it could possibly be worse than fighting Cinder." Roman shrugged, "so, basically your brother is doomed, might as well just get it over with."

Neo drove her gaze into his mind. Roman had learned how to understand his assistant without her typing things out on her scroll, at least emotionally, it's not like he could literally process the words she _would've_ said if she talked.

"Look, this is the first time I've seen you reluctant to kill someone, that brother of yours must be really really special! Are you two like… forebidden lovers or-*groan*!" Parasol met pair of balls and Torchwick, groaning on the ground, wished that aura minimized pain… "Okay, I'll take that as a-" he saw Neo's face just maliciously _begging_ him to say yes, to try to continue the joke, "….no." Roman finished. Neo smugly smiled at his defeat. Roman loved to snark at people, but Neo did not have the patience for it.

Roman recovered and sat down in a chair. _Stuck between to murderous women, what have I done to deserve this?... Okay, a lot of things but even Oum himself would have to think this cruel. How am I going to survive this?_

If he goes ahead with Cinder's plan, Neo will kill him. If he disobeys Cinder, Cinder will kill him. What was he to do?

Well, lie, steal, cheat, and survive.

"Okay…" Roman folded his hands into each other, "here's what we're going to do."

* * *

With his homework almost finished, Jaune enjoyed walking around Beacon. The fresh air invigorated his senses and relaxed his mind. The last two days were quite chaotic, even if the main events didn't even take up a quarter of the day.

"Hey Vomit Boy! You have competition!" Jaune heard Yang's voice in the distance. _Oh dear Oum please not again._ He turned around to see Yang disembarking off a bullhead with Weiss in tow, who looked like an odd combination of green and red. Was it Shawcrossmas already?

Weiss then staggered over to the trash can and started puking.

"Yang," Jaune regarded her with suspicion, "what did you do to Weiss?"

Yang shrugged, "maybe I blackmailed her into taking shots with me. Who knew that Weiss was such a light weight? Maybe it wasn't a… WEISS decision!" Yang started laughing.

Jaune groaned and went over to Weiss. "Hey… uh… are you okay? I have some ginger-ale in my room, that always helped me calm down after an upset stomach…" He massaged her back with one hand as his former crush hurled into the trash can.

The hand was swatted away, unsurprisingly. "I'm-*groan* fine!" Before she returned to puking: a telltale sign of not being fine.

Jaune resisted the desire to laugh… Weiss Schnee, the most dignified of individuals, was now puking in public into a trash bin. Yet he knew the pain, and would not subject Weiss to it. The crush may be over, but he still cared for her. He walked over to a vending machine, swiped his scroll, and returned with a can of ginger ale.

"Drink this when you're done," he put it to Weiss's side, then turned to Yang. "How are you going to explain to your sister that you got her partner…. Like this?"

Yang laughed, "I'll tell her what happened! She'll yell at me and maybe playfully hit my arm, but then it will blow over and everyone but Weiss will be able to laugh about it later! Especially the part of what happened last night, she-"

"DON'T YOU-" Weiss seemed to want to finish that sentence before returning to puking.

"For the sake of her privacy," Jaune raised a hand, "I don't want to know."

"Did you hear that Weiss?" Yang mockingly called over to the puking girl, "Jaune cares about your privacy! Why did you reject him again?"

Jaune sighed, "I'm going to leave. Nice seeing you two are… well? Wait, Yang, how are you not…"

"Simple!" Yang pointed at herself, "I may be a Xiao Long, but I'm also a Branwen!"

"What does that mean?"

Yang just smiled and walked over to Weiss, massaging her back. _Oh, Yang can comfort her but I can't!... Okay Yang is a team-mate, no matter how much trouble she causes._

"I…. hate you so much… Yang," Weiss gasped before returning to doing her business. By Oum how much did Weiss drink?

Jaune shrugged it off and walked back towards his dorm. His scroll vibrated, and looked at it to see a message from Goodwitch.

 _Entrance Point: Central Elevator. Press floor buttons 4, 2, and 0, in that order. Then speak password, "Roast It."_

 _Prof. Goodwitch._

 _P.S: Delete this message once you memorized it._

"Type in Four-Two-Zero, then say 'Roast it.' Type in…" Jaune repeated it silently to himself over and over before he moved the text into the trash icon. It was a bizarre password, but then again, the stranger the password, the harder it would be to guess. Jaune could only imagine the context of such a phrase. What was the significance of "roast it?"

* * *

Ozpin got a call from the council. His ringtone, Sloop Houndd's hit song, "Roast Beans Every Day," started playing.

 _I don't have a problem. I have a hobby!_

* * *

Nora was told to meet Jaune at the front of the central elevator late at night, after all of Team RWBY went to sleep. Apparently, it didn't take that long. Yang and Weiss were apparently exhausted from the night before, Blake was always a sleepy sort unless she was on some mission, and Ruby apparently spent the night worrying about her sister and partner, so she was also exhausted. Nora had his ears pressed to the door until he recognized all the sleep sounds the four girls made. How did she know those sounds?

Not even Ren wanted to know.

Nora was nervous. She had been avoiding Jaune all day with the purpose of not wanting to blurt out what happened to her: her "friendly meeting" with Neo. What would she do if she let it slip? How would Jaune react? What did this mean for her relationship with him…. Wait what?

Nora couldn't help but notice that she'd been thinking about Jaune more often these last couple of days. Not just because of the dog or the sister, but… she couldn't put her hammer on it. It was like… they had gotten closer, and understood each other better and… she kind of liked it.

It was almost similar when she started thinking about Re-… _Oh no… oh no no that's not what's happening. That is most CERTAINLY not what's happening. I'm just overthinking my… thoughts._

Nora nervously walked over to the central elevator. She couldn't let her nervousness show. Jaune would ask what's wrong and she'd have to lie but she's terrible at lying so she'd have to tell a half-truth but Jaune would want the whole thing and she would have to say she couldn't tell him and that would lessen the bond they were starting to have and-

"Nora, is something bothering you?" _Oum dammit!_

"Oh, uh… yeah, just nervous about our first day of training!" She replied to her fearless leader. It was kind of true, a half-truth. She was nervous to be around Jaune. To have a secret… _I told your sister about Zwei! I'm so sorry!_ Her thoughts raged with the desire to be placed upon her tongue, forcing her to blurt it out. She resisted.

"You? Nervous about training a dog?... You still reeling from that… uh… near death experience of yours?" Jaune's voice meekly addressed her, as if he was embarrassed about it himself… and also worried for her.

"Yeah… a bit." Neo was the cause of her anxiety, that much was true.

"I know you don't blame me, but… I'm still very sorry about that. Hopefully Poli won't come after you again…"

 _A little too late for that._ Nora forced a smile, "if I have you protecting me, she can come for me again, fearless leader!"

Jaune gave a nervous laugh, "if you say so." He motioned to the elevator, which Nora then noted wasn't open. "Jaune, you have to call it first."

"Oh yeah!" Jaune seemed to blush as he pressed the call button. The elevator arrived momentarily.

Jaune seemed to press three random floors, and then said, with a firm monotone, "roast it." The elevator seemed to resonate. "Access Granted!" a computerized voice declared, and the elevator seemed to go down.

Jaune and Nora stood in the elevator in near silence, the only sound being a jazz-elevator type cover of…. Sloop Houndd?

"So… uh…. Is Team RWBY asleep?" Jaune asked.

"I made sure of it, hopefully Zwei knows how to be silent." Nora replied.

"I mean, the only noise he makes is 'woof,' even the hole he made in our door was oddly stealthy…"

"True…. But will it wake up Blake… her hearing is better than all of ours….

* * *

 _Blake felt her skin touched by rigid abs. She looked up to stare into her lovers lilac eyes…. Wait…_

 _"Hey Blakey!"_

ZWOOOOOP!

Blake jerked herself awake. What was that sound, and WHY was Yang a man in her dreams? She hated when her mind did that to her… make her… question things about herself!

She looked around, whatever made that sound was no longer there… She shrugged it off as part of her dream, but just to be safe, she pulled out four ear plugs….

* * *

Nora grasped hard onto Jaune as she got her well-deserved piggy back ride. After all those times she carried Jaune, it was time for her to feel the exhilaration of being on Jaune's back, who was taller than Ren, and truly feel like king of the castle.

The vault was also HUGE, so she could make Jaune run around as she giggled in glee.

"Uh… Nora? Are you sure this is… *ahem* intimate enough?"

Without thinking, she leaned down and kissed Jaune's cheek. It took four seconds for both to realize what just happened.

Suddenly, a monochrome helix of energy careened through the ceiling of the vault, crashing into the floor, causing a crater. Zwei popped out of the rubble. "Woof."

Jaune and Nora looked at each other, red on both of their cheeks. "Uh… well… that worked." Jaune stammered. "Good… uh… good job Nora."

"Uh… yeah… good job me… good…. Hehehe," Nora got off of Jaune's back and allowed some distance between the two. She tried to calm down her nerves. _I just did that to summon Zwei. Yes. Completely business related._

"So… uh… with that out of the way, let's look up some basic dog training techniques…" Jaune pulled out his scroll…. "and reception down here is garbage. Never mind, we're just going to have to wing it."

"Jaune silly! Zwei is already trained as a dog! A website wasn't going to help anyway!" Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of assumed that, it's just… maybe we could train him to use his powers the same way you could train a dog to do tricks?"

Nora shrugged, "Zwei! Roll Over."

Zwei rolled over.

Nora then looked at the dog, "Okay, Roll Over, but use your superpowers! Do a Barrel Roll!"

"Woof!" Zwei started rolling over, then he started glowing. Suddenly a horizontal tornado, pointed at them like a spear, generated from a sudden increase of Zwei's angular acceleration. The tornado then jetted toward him, knocking Jaune and Nora back into a wall. It reminded Nora of Ruby's weird speed trick she did during the food fight.

Zwei continued "rolling over;" transforming the vault into a massive wind tunnel. Nora started regretting opening up with that ability, as she tried to push herself off the wall, but she couldn't. Pillars started tearing apart, as stone slabs whipped around the tumultuous gusts roaring in the vault.

Suddenly, a blinding white light came from her right, and she turned to see Jaune glowing like some mystical angel. Suddenly, Jaune pushed himself off the wall, and then screamed, "Zwei STOP!"

Zwei stopped, and Jaune's aura flickered and faded. "Woof."

"Jaune…" Nora started until she realized she had some feet to fall before she touched the ground. She slid down and her bottom loudly collided with the stone. "Ow, what did you do?"

"I just…" Jaune looked at himself, "pushed myself off the wall."

Nora was looking confused, and then she felt a grin pull onto her face, "I think that was your semblance doing something!"

"You think?" Jaune looked at his hands, "I mean… what did I do? What was it?... Did it look awesome?"

"It. Looked. AMAZING!" Oh Pyrrha was going to be so proud! She's going to see that Jaune could… uh….

Okay, she had no idea technically what Jaune did. Did he have super strength? Was he a human flashbang? Is he specifically resistant to wind? Maybe he could absorb wind like she could absorb electricity! Ooh! Ooh! After they were done with this dog she was totes going to figure this out! She and Jaune, solving the mysteries of aura! It would be roma-…. _Was I about to say… or think… romantic?_

Nora was starting to get confused. Better shake off those thoughts and focus on the dog.

"Okay…." Jaune seemed to have his attention towards Zwei, "so you can create an energy charged tornado…. Let's… let's try this again. However," he picked up Zwei and pointed him in the opposite direction, "let's do it without pinning us, okay?"

"Woof."

"I have no idea if you understand me." Jaune muttered, "okay… gather some of this debris with the tornado, and see if you can focus fire at that symbol on the far wall."

"Woof." Zwei started rolling over, as Jaune ran to Nora's side. The Tornado was summoned again, but instead of being pushed to a wall, Nora felt herself being dragged towards Zwei, but not enough for her to lose her footing.

The debris surrounding Zwei was picked up, and then focused into a massive pillar of stone…. Then it seemed to lose its construction as rocks were launched everywhere, smashing into all the walls except for the one Jaune asked Zwei to aim at.

"Stop!" Jaune called out, and Zwei stopped. "Okay…. No one said this would be simple. Uh…. Let's try something simpler. Nora! Can you stack a small little tower in front of Zwei from the loose stone around here?"

"You got it!" Nora saluted, as she zoomed around, lifting the massive rocks and forming a makeshift sculpture. She called it "an Ode to Rocks."

"Okay Zwei, knock this down, and only this…. Rock pile," _Hey! I put a good 30 seconds into that 'rock pile' jerk!_ "with your tornado.

It went on like that for around two hours. Jaune and Nora would discover some ability, and then try to control and harness it. They practiced on the eye lasers, the pinball tackles, the sonic woofs, the mud tracks that could be converted into mines. (Nora LOVED that one)

While Nora would have loved to call it fun, it wasn't really. They were trying to reign in the destructive energy of the little pooch, not encourage it. Jaune was focused on causing as little chaos as possible, and that just wasn't entertaining! If she was in control, Zwei would simply be thrown into a battle situation, and told to "go wild!" It worked that time with the Deathstalkers, why couldn't it work for their future endeavors?

"Ahem, Jaune?"

"Yes Nora," Jaune was holding Zwei, trying to avoid it leaving tracks everywhere that could explode. Where did the mud even come from?

"Maybe we should encourage Zwei to follow its instincts in conjunction to our orders, y'know?" Nora walked up to her leader. "I mean, if we pressure it too much it might not be able to make the proper calls while we're preoccupied!"

"But…"

"His instincts saved our lives the first time… isn't that right widdle doggy!" Nora shifted her gaze to the dog, giving his face a good nuzzle. Zwei licked her cheek. "Look, maybe instead of focusing on controlling these powers, we should focus on enhancing them! That way, when whatever comes for us, we could obliterate them!"

"Or we could kill them!" Jaune exclaimed…. "We could kill them with Zwei's powers, and… well…"

Nora mellowed out. "We are not going to kill Neo, Jaune. Don't worry."

Jaune sighed, then stiffened, "Neo? Who's Neo? Are you talking about Poli?"

Nora felt her gut drop, "Uh… yeah, I meant Poli. Neo, Poli, they are such similar words!"

"It sounds like her other nickname 'Nea…' come to think of it 'Neo' was a common misunderstanding due to her handwriting… How would you know that?" Jaune questioned.

"Uh… Zwei! How about I…."

"Nora." Jaune looked at her, "is there something you're not telling me…"

Nora sheepishly looked down, "she didn't want me to tell you… please don't make me…"

Jaune's hard face softened, and looked down. "Okay then, I won't." He smiled. "Also, you have a point, in the story, one trainer focused on its control while the other worked on its power… I guess I know which is which." He gave her a smile, after grabbing her chin and bringing her eyes into his. _Nora, I forbid you to blush!_ She mentally screamed at herself.

Zwei, having been let down, walked up to Nora and whimpered to be further petted. She was about to do that until the mud he tracked around exploded at their feet, knocking both Jaune and Nora back.

"Woof."

* * *

After leaving the vault, and somehow cleaning up a little bit of the mess (but probably not enough to earn the ire of Goodwitch) Jaune felt like he had a gigantic workout. Even if he wasn't sparring, he was running, being pushed back by a bunch of energy blasts, and somehow activated his semblance. He played the role of the confident and ever-prepared leader, but he was running on fumes the entire training session. Dealing with Nora's energy was a trial alone.

It was a bit odd though, every now and then, he would catch Nora looking at him… similar to how Pyrrha looked at him. He had no idea that was about until he heard how his sister probably approached her again.

How dare she! Poli was his sister but that did not excuse threatening Nora again. The fact that Nora was alive gave him hope, but if Poli tried to step over her boundaries and harm people he cared about… he would have to defend them against family.

Could Poli even be considered family since she ran away?

Well, so did he.

His scroll vibrated, as latent text messages came flooding in now that he was within scroll service. All were from Pyrrha, along with a couple missed calls. He looked at the latest sent text, "Jaune, when you wake up or charge your scroll or see this, CALL ME IMMEDIATELY!"

Jaune called Pyrrha. It was picked up immediately, despite the late hour.

"Sorry Pyrrha, I was in an area of the school that seemed to have poor reception, what's-"

"Ren has gone missing. I can't find him."

* * *

 **A/N: A lot of cut-away gags this chapter. Hopefully you don't mind, but don't expect them to become a main stay.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Do NOT Roast Beans Every Day, this Story does not Endorse Coffee Addiction.**


	8. Sniff and Destroy

**A/N: Yes, Jaune's semblance will be revealed/brought up. It will influence the story the way it will probably influence the actual RWBY: it will be important moment for Jaune, but it will not be a plot device that moves the story forward. It will also be powerful, but powerful in the way that all the other main characters' semblances are powerful. It also will be my theory of what his actual semblance is (based off that scene with Cardin), it will not be a joke semblance that's powerful yet stupid; we already have Zwei for that.**

 **Also, while I haven't gotten this criticism, I'm worried people might think that Nora's crushing on Jaune too soon. Well, here's the thing, Nora is emotional. While she is about as well developed as Cinder, though slightly better due to the brief instances of her calmer more tactful empathic side showing up ("practice what you preach Pyrrha"), her personality seems to be one where affection and possible romantic consideration seems to sprout quickly. While her crush on Ren was gradual (as represented by the song "Boop.") that's probably a cause of her growing up with him, and growing into the idea of romance as we all do. (Less about cooties, more about dat booty!) Nora isn't Blake or Weiss, she would allow herself to experience and accept romantic feelings towards other people quickly: doesn't mean she'll like it or admit them to others though… It's the one thing she's shy about, and I can't wait to explore that part of her.**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

"Uh… Pyrrha, are you sure he's just taking an… uh… overly long walk?" Jaune couldn't imagine Ren running off or weak enough to be kidnapped.

"He's been gone half a day! He's not answering his scroll, none of the townsfolk know… I don't like to admit it, but I'm freaking out."

"Okay, Pyrrha, okay… stay calm….."

"STAY CALM?" Nora exclaimed to his side, cause Jaune to jump. "Renny is missing? What if he's captured by some rogue bandits? What if he's been drugged and now is alone and naked…" Nora blushed, "… in the forest."

Nora then whimpered, "what if he's dead?..."

"Ren is not dead." Jaune assured Nora, knowing he was right. "Pyrrha, we'll be there ASAP. The village name is Mulan, right?"

"Correct… wait, Nora is with you? What's she…"

"Not important," Jaune sternly stated. He felt 'leader mode' course through his body. "We'll be at Mulan at contact you then. It's not that long of a flight…"

"Would there be a flight this late Jaune? What should I do while you try to get here?"

"Continue asking around, and check the perimeter of the village. Don't go too far into the outskirts. I understand you are more than capable of surviving nighttime Grimm activity, but I don't want to risk you becoming missing as well until we are all there to support each other."

Pyrrha seemed to redden, "I understand. Okay. I'll do that. Call me as soon as your arrive."

Jaune hung up and looked at Nora. "Seems like our night isn't over yet…"

"But Pyrrha's right!" Nora groaned, "we couldn't get a flight to Mulan until morning. All the bullhead services at Beacon are closed because we're supposed to be in bed."

"Maybe," Jaune stated, "but…. I'm starting to wonder…." He looked at Zwei. "Can you bring us there any faster?"

"Woof."

* * *

Ruby was awoken by the light vibration of her scroll.

She quickly swiped it up before it woke up her team-mates. She saw it was Jaune. _Why would he be calling me so late at night? What if he's drunk like Yang and needs someone to help him get back to Beacon? Or is it something serious?_ As fellow team leaders, they made a pact to call each other if their teams were in need of assistance.

"Hey Jaune, why are you calling me so late?" Ruby breathed into the scroll, a yawn overtaking her words.

"We're just borrowing your dog, who…. Uh… somehow found us. Yes. We need him for an emergency search mission." Ruby looked at Jaune's face. It seemed worried about something. Ruby ignored the most pertinent question on how Zwei got out of the room and she vainly blinked herself awake.

"If it's an emergency I'm coming…"

"No! We need to travel to a village right now, and Nora…. Won… a free private bullhead trip for two!... and a carry on! We're taking Zwei as our carry on! Yes! That's what's happening."

If Ruby could be considered awake, she would've found this explanation highly suspect. However, she wasn't. Her mental state almost accepted it the same way one accepts the oddest thing in a dream as sensible.

"All right, stay safe," Ruby yawned, her silver eyes starting to relax into themselves. She hung up her scroll and thrust her head on the pillow. She smiled as she started to dream about running around in a kitchen, holding onto some thyme in a bottle….

* * *

The sky over Mulan was tranquil and beautiful. Away from the bustling metropolis that was Vale, the stars challenged the shattered moon to rival their brilliance. The relaxed citizens of the relaxed town gazed upon them, connecting them like points in a bigger picture, using their imagination to extend the invisible lines that connected the lights into fantastical pictures that stemmed from ancient lore or pure imagination.

Pyrrha almost joined them that first night, the family asking her if she ever saw such a wonderful sky from her time at Beacon and Mistral. She was able to land that house because they knew who she was. It annoyed her: recognition, however she knew that it was an advantage at times, and even if she would NEVER admit it to herself, she was too pampered to being comfortable camping in the wilderness. She slept in the comfortable bed as Ren slept in a sleeping bag on the couch… which she also thought was comfortable. It was a win for both.

Ren never seemed to divulge exactly what their purpose was there: only that "it was something he must do," and that it involved his currently unknown origins. She helped where she could, or at least helped in a way that Ren allowed her to know what was helpful. She asked herself into the citizen archives of 18 years ago, using her fame as leverage. While she found nothing definitive, she found something helpful: doctors that used to work in the small hospital (if you could call it that, it was more of an ER and clinic) of the village: those that worked there 18 years ago… one that was qualified to deliver a baby.

Naturally, the family they boarded with were constantly delivering children back then, to remember anything such as Ren's birth would be silly, however, they could've pointed them in the right direction. They at least offered a house.

Ren failed to say thank you, but Pyrrha understood. Ren wasn't Jaune, Ren didn't like speaking, and more than often avoided stating the obvious: or maybe he was just used to Nora speaking for him. Either way… she hoped that Jaune wasn't bullshitting her when he said he'd be there soon.

Jaune didn't necessarily fill her with confidence: she had all of that for herself. She never feared for her life, she never even allowed the idea of defeat. Pyrrha was unstoppable, unbeatable…. And on her own.

Team JNPR… and Jaune… allowed her to feel part of something, not placed on a lonesome summit of strength. She was glad she wasn't leader because of her skill; it was Jaune, the one who could reach out to her beyond her skills. The one who's empathy and care for others allowed him to overcome his insecurities not for himself, but for them.

 _The love of my life._ The thought graced Pyrrha's thoughts.

She had long accepted it; she loved her leader. How could she not? When Jaune had no idea who she was, she just wanted to latch on to it. Savor the chance to be an unknown, to start off with a blank slate, rather than have her reputation precede her. She found him in the forest… after pinning him to a tree. She opened up herself in ways she never had to Jaune, in order to solidify the fact that Jaune learned about Pyrrha first from herself, before any media-slanted interviews or in-school gossip.

There was one thing she couldn't bring herself to inform him on though… as much as she tried hinting at it. That's what girls were supposed to do, right? Hint at it? She admittedly didn't really have any friends in Sanctum to inform her; she only had soap operas to go off of. She'll NEVER admit her enjoyment of the admittedly shallow entertainment… not even to Jaune, who exposed her to the slightly less shallow action comic books.

She shook her head. _Jaune isn't that important now, I need to find Ren… by following Jaune's orders._ One of these days she'll stop feeling like such a tween girl with her first crush… until then, squash it until he finally notices… like he's supposed to… right?

She asked around the town, hoping to get a lead on where Ren could've vanished to. She had no luck. Ren was an unknown: a silent, stealthy, and unassuming individual. The most distinct thing about his appearance was the stealthy highlight of pink apparently Nora did as a prank… and that he kept.

Nora and Ren's relationship…. It was peculiar. Pyrrha knew Nora had a crush on her long-time friend… which she used as bait to coax Pyrrha to openly confess her own crush. Ren… well, Ren seemed fond of her, but she had no idea where he stood in terms of closeness to Nora. To be honest… while Pyrrha valued herself a good judge of character, she was a poor judge of immediate thoughts of her compatriots.

She rooted for Ren and Nora… because it was similar to her and Jaune. Two girls, discovering love for the first time towards people that they could consider their best friend… Oum dammit, she thought men were the only ones to suffer the friend zone. Damn soap operas lying to her!

Once again, she was distracted by thoughts of her leader. She chastised herself. What was she, an 11 year old girl obsessed with a physically attractive movie star?

She forced herself into focus as she continued asking around. Mulan was an honest town, and whenever people told her they knew nothing, she believed them. She was desperate. Ren may not be Jaune, but Ren still treated her not for her fame but for herself… he often offered his support when she was distraught, was everything she was feeling so obvious?

If that was the case, how did Jaune not know how she felt?

"Oh C'mon!" She chastised herself aloud, enough about Jaune! He'll be here soon… to..

She looked up and saw something that appeared to be a comet soared across the star-dotted canvas of the night sky. It would've been beautiful if her mind wasn't mired with worry and built up sexual frustration…. Like it usually was.

The comet careened through the darkness until it was lost behind the buildings. However, the thud of a collision brought it back to Pyrrha's attention. _Of all the times for there to be a space-born collision, it has to be the day I have a mission to find one of my best friends?_

Pyrrha sighed and headed towards the collision, expecting panic and distraught. While she hated her fame she loved using it to reassure people… well, she assumed that's what she'd do when she became a professional huntress. It's like having an ugly face, you may hate having one but it allowed for the freedom to give it a gnarly scar…. At least that's what it seemed most model-like huntsmen did.

She started thinking what Jaune would look like with a scar. While she hated the idea of Jaune being hurt it certainly…. Wait… she was distracted again.

The impact of the space rock seemed to not cause panic but wonder… and Pyrrha was even more instilled with wonder when Jaune emerged from the wreckage, with Nora and…

"Jaune…. How did you…. and a dog?" Pyrrha looked at the hapless looking corgi that seemed to pant out of slight fatigue.

"Oh, hey Pyrrha! Great to see you!" Jaune greeted, with his adorable and trademark nervous smile.

"What? How? Why?" That's all Pyrrha could muster as a response. Confusion silenced all form of verbal communication she could muster. Her private speech coach clearly didn't do a good enough job. There was a crater, pulsating with some kind of energy. A fatigued looking Nora, a dog, and a nervously chuckling hunk… _JAUNE!_... emerging from the monochromatic smoke.

"Uh…. Port's semblance? Yes! Port had a semblance that allows for comet-based transport."

"Really?" Pyrrha asked. She wasn't skeptical but she had to reaffirm what she heard; even if she could accept any explanation for this ridiculous and improbable occurrence.

"Yes! We ran into Port and he revealed the secret to his success, so… yeah. Also, this dog is Team RWBY's!" Jaune picked up the corgi. "His name is Zwei and he has been licensed by Oobleck as a good search dog! We thought he'd be useful!"

Pyrrha decided it was just enough to nod. She needn't ask further; it's not like an explanation was any help to her at this moment.

"All right, Nora! You're with me!" Jaune declared. Nora saluted, though her gaze seemed distracted. _Makes sense, I could only imagine what it'd be like to think Ren is miss…. Wait, why is Nora with him?_ "Pyrrha, you stay here in the village. Greet Ren if he returns here."

"Jaune, I want to accompany you! Wouldn't Nora be better company to greet Ren if he returns?"

"Ren hates surprises, especially if he's returning as if nothing happened." Jaune reasoned. "If this is indeed an emergency, Nora and I will retrieve him. You, his designated partner in this mission of his, will greet him if it's an act of inconsideration on his part. I understand you want to do more, but this is the most logical battle-plan."

Pyrrha nodded. "I understand." She did understand, but still: walking through the outskirts, the wilderness… together. It'd be like initiation, but with a pre-built relationship, a scenario that maybe she could hint further… and in their privacy…

 _This is about Ren you selfish tween!_ Her mind scolded. Why did Jaune have to drive her crazy? Was it the fantasy that she was falling in love or was Jaune just that amazing… yet if the latter was the case why did no one notice him?

 _Simple, only you see his potential and what he can be._ Pyrrha liked that reasoning. She pushed her latent feelings towards Jaune and agreed to her duty as a huntress and as Ren's friend.

"I'll keep scoping out through the town, but Jaune," she made herself get close to him. She wanted her breath to caress his skin. "Please, be careful." She then blushed, and added in a hurry, "also you Nora, be careful."

"We will." Nora responded. Nora seemed oddly serious, but then again, Ren was missing. If anything was to kick Nora into gear it would be that. For her and her team's sake, she hoped Ren was okay.

"Pyrrha," Jaune grabbed the champion's attention. "If I'm in any danger, you know I'll call you to help." Pyrrha struggled to repress a blush.

She watched as Jaune pulled out a pink apron, with the words "Please Do Nothing To The Cook" upon it, and brought it up to the dog. (Name was Zwei, correct?) It sniffed, and seemed to run off somewhere. Nora and Jaune followed.

Pyrrha hoped that everything will end up alright, as she continued scouring the township of Mulan for clues and maybe answers.

* * *

Nora was still dizzy. Zwei encapsulated them in an orb of energy, and then rocketed them to the far off township of Mulan. While Jaune ascertained that Zwei couldn't detect a person from any point with his scent, he was correct that he could find someone if given a proper radius from his current position.

The apron granted Zwei a scent, and the corgi was sniffing through the wilds outside of the village.

The woods appeared just like the wilderness outside of Beacon and Vale. Trees, dirt, the threat of Grimm: there wasn't anything special about it. It wasn't like Forever Fall that seemed to be red everywhere. Green was so boring!... Wait, did Nora just call 'green' boring? That's what Ren wore all the time!

Nora internally challenged her opinion on the color as she looked up at Jaune, who seemed wholly focused on where Zwei was leading him. He didn't fear the threat of night-time Grimm. He didn't seem worried about Ren: just determined to retrieve him. Nora's head was a mess! Her thoughts rang like alarms as "Ren" and "Missing" cycled intermittently through her thoughts, with the occasional "bwaaa" of a security alarm breaking up the cycle.

This wasn't like losing Zwei, whom she only knew for a day. This was Ren. Ren was the most important person to her. He was the person who made her feel welcome. He was the person that accompanied her when no one would. He was the person she loved.

 _Do you?_ Her almost autonomous mind responded. _Or do you love him the same way Jaune thinks Pyrrha loves him?_ Nora shook that fear from her. There was no way: her love was genuine, grown from years and years of interacting with such a great person. Ren wasn't an idea to her: she knew him.

 _And are there things that would drive you nuts? That would bring tension? Wouldn't…. Jaune be better, you are looking at him more…_ Nora continued to shake her head. Jaune? Her? Romantic? She would've laughed if it weren't for the fact she was with Jaune and Zwei right now to see her do so. What was with these second thoughts? Ever since Jaune told her about Pyrrha, her mind had been swimming in the confusion of her own perceived concept of romance.

 _Shut up, me! I must find Ren. That's what's important. Whether he loves me too or not, he's my friend. I must find him. I must make sure he's not…. He's not…._ She had already said it, but she didn't want to think and believe it. Ren might be dead.

They weren't calling out for him; Jaune and Nora learned their lesson last time, the Grimm are attracted to desperation. Nora tried to swallow her fears and let her usual happiness buzz through herself. She was happy that she was helping Ren finally on this mission. She was happy she got to see a beautiful night sky. She was happy Jaune was with her…. _NOT LIKE THAT HAPPY!_

"So… uh… Jaune. You think we'll find Ren?" Nora wanted to hear Jaune's certainty. She wanted to hear that wheezing voice of his to tell her that things were going to be alright.

"Yes." Jaune responded. Nora wasn't entirely happy with that answer.

"Hope so? Why hope so? Ren is okay, right! You told me so!"

"I may not be able to guarantee everything has a positive outcome, especially when it's outside my control, but I know everything is fine." Jaune turned to her, his face having a calming effect on Nora "Zwei has a scent, and I can assure you we'll find him."

It was slightly disconcerting that Jaune didn't seem to worry about this, but maybe it was him hiding his own worry. She steeled her gaze and tried to fake her confidence in front of her fearless leader. "Okay." That's all she said. There was no point in believing what had yet to be proven. They would find him.

"So…" Jaune opened up, "when we do find Ren, is there anything you would want to say to him?" Nora's mind went blank.

"Well, nothing special really! Just hug him, tell him I'm happy he's okay, then we return to Beacon, sleep, and then eat pancakes!"

"Really?" Jaune looked at Nora, a knowing look in his eyes. "Fine… I'll respect you don't want to tell me…"

Nora gasped. How dare Jaune insinuate her obvious lie! There was so much Nora wanted to say to Ren: most of it involving her slapping him to chastise him for worrying her. Yet what of that was Jaune's business? This was between her and Ren, Jaune needn't be involved… yet for some reason she wanted him to.

"Nora…" Jaune sighed. "When we find him, and I mean WHEN we find him, I'm going to go back to Pyrrha, to talk to her, and you're going to talk to him…. Unless if he's in trouble then we both go in."

"What?" Nora was trying to decipher her ears.

"I have something to say to Pyrrha… and you have something to say to Ren." Jaune turned around. "We need to do this… and while maybe there could be a better time, I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready. Same as you. We need to do this."

"Jaune…" Nora began, "you're bringing this up on a mission where REN COULD BE DEAD?"

"Look, I have a tracker and wireless aura reader, the only reason I brought the dog and gave him a scent was because I needed a reason to bring him along, other than of course transport." Jaune motioned towards his scroll. Nora blinked. "I mean… we have to keep Zwei's powers secret. So…. If I just diluted his role to tracker, than no one would wonder if he was the reason we got here so fast!" Jaune gave a goofy smile.

Nora was flabbergasted. She knew Jaune had leader tracking technologies, he trusted his entire team to trust him with that, yet in all the panic the thought skipped her mind. It also probably skipped Pyrrha's. She had to bring this frustration to his attention: preferably calmly. "You….. could… TRACK REN THIS WHOLE TIME?" Nora exclaimed.

"Yes." Jaune stated simply, "however, I was nervous sending Pyrrha alone to where he was. I didn't want her worry to attract Grimm to her. She may be a great warrior, but it only takes one loss against the Grimm. It's best to not be alone…" Jaune smiled at Nora. "Besides, Zwei is powered when we're together. With him, we're unstoppable!"

"Woof!" Zwei agreed(?).

"Besides, I made a mistake. Instead of sending of Pyrrha to join him, I should've sent you." Jaune looked into Nora's eyes. "You may not know it, but you are so important to Ren… And I should've brought that up, but I wanted to avoid an argument… I went to his false logic to bring Pyrrha here instead. Nora…. You need to be here for him, for whatever is bothering him."

Nora couldn't find words. She literally couldn't due to the lack of a dictionary in front of her, but her brain refused to conjure any from her memory. Was Jaune telling her that Ren loved her?

"I'm not saying Ren loves you." Jaune clarified. "I'm just saying… he knows that you two are together. But maybe not together-together." Jaune gave a sheepish smile. He then looked at his scroll. "And here we are." Zwei barked in confirmation.

Ren was sitting on a log, facing a lake. While his back was towards her, Nora could see his head was bowed down. He was crying. Did Ren ever cry? A couple times growing up, but only during their younger years.

"Nora… I'll wait for you, but in a distance where I can't eavesdrop. Talk to him."

Nora felt something buzz within her. He kissed Jaune on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered.

"No problem," her fearless leader responded. _Why do I feel so hot in the face?_

Nora walked up to the weeping Ren, as Jaune distanced himself from her.

* * *

Jaune sat in the forest, waiting for Nora and Ren to finish their conversation. He rubbed his cheek. _Wow, Nora is really affectionate. No wonder it took so long for Ren to notice her feelings._ Like Pyrrha's eagerness to help, it seemed that Nora used affection to hint. And while hints were hints, it didn't mean that someone was going to see them.

He made a promise to himself. After this was over, he was going to talk to Pyrrha. It had to be done. He wasn't going to reject her, he was going to figure out his next move depending on how the conversation goes. As he told Nora, he loved Pyrrha, he just didn't know what type of love it was. She was definitely the best thing in his life, but does that mean he was obliged to fall in love romantically? Were they destined? Was she the only one for him, and vice versa?

He dreaded the conversation: two late teens discussing love. Clearly neither of them would know what they were doing, yet they had to. Their relationship was in the balance.

As much as Jaune realized that a romantic relationship with Pyrrha was dangerous, he also realized that letting these feelings fester was equally dangerous, and most likely to be less rewarding. What was he to say? Tell her he just wasn't interested in dating within the team? No, that wasn't it. He had to be honest. He had to make it clear just how important she was to him… and how scary it was to take the next step… vulnerable to their mutual naiveté to interpersonal relationships.

Jaune sighed. _I told Nora with such confidence what I was going to do… but I don't know what I'm going to do!_

"Woof!" Zwei wagged his tail and looked at the conflicted blonde.

"Awww, Zwei…" He picked him up, "do you have any answers to my shallow soap-opera-ish conundrum?"

"Woof."

"That's what I thought." Jaune sighed. He put his face into one of his hands and let out the frustration in an angst ridden groan. "Why couldn't things be simple? Like… some princess needs my help, I save her, we fall in love, the end? I mean, I'm already in a fairy tale!" Jaune gave a spiteful look at the innocent looking dog, "but I can't seem to get the good ones!"

"Woof."

"You're right Zwei. Life is a bitch." That wasn't what Zwei said, but Jaune liked to imagine that's what the dog meant by "woof."

Suddenly, the woofs turned into growls, then almost nervous whimpering. Jaune stood up to look to where Zwei's snout was pointing.

* * *

Nora could hear the timpani of her heart blast in an orchestral overture. Her footsteps seemed to echo into the throbbing of her body, as her shoes sunk into the shallow dirt of the forest. She took a deep breath, "Ren?"

Ren jerked like a gigantic Atlesian paladin slapped him across the face. "Nora!" He nearly yelped, "what…" he wiped his eyes, "what are you doing here?"

"Because I should be." Nora was proud of herself for not gushing some long-winded explanation like she usually did.

"But… how…"

"Pyrrha told us you were missing. Do you have any idea how worried we were Ren? It's a good thing you took your scroll, otherwise we wouldn't have found you so quickly!"

"I… was going to return…" this wasn't the Ren Nora knew. The Ren Nora knew was calm, collected, and thought through everything. This Ren seemed flustered, confused… ashamed.

"Ren, sit back on that log." She pointed to that log. "And I'm going to sit next to you. And you are going to tell me what's going on."

"Nora, I-"

"I don't care what your excuse is this time! 'I don't want to trouble you with it.' 'This isn't something that interests you Nora.' 'Nora your smile is all I need.' I've heard enough!" Nora voice grew in volume as she felt her bottled frustration simmer into a boil. "You are going to open up to me and tell me what's wrong. I will not be pushed away this time!" Why did her eyes feel so wet all of a sudden?

Ren just lied back in the dirt, speechless. While being silent was typical of Ren, this wasn't the type of silence Nora was used to. Where was the Ren she loved. Yes, she was going to be honest with herself. She loved Ren. Maybe it was confused like Jaune worried about Pyrrha's, but damn emotions rarely made sense in a logical standpoint, the only truth in them is that they are there, and nothing could be done.

And for the person she loved, Nora had to scold him for letting her worry like this. However, now was not the time: Now was the time to prove that she could be there for him.

She sat down on the log and firmly patted on the "seat" beside her. Ren meekly shuffled up and took it.

"What's on your mind Ren?" Nora started off with.

"Well, I guess I'm wondering why you're here and-" Nora punched his shoulder, but not hard.

"Before we came here, Ren. What was on your mind and clearly still is."

Ren sighed, and looked down. "I found them, Nora. I found them."

Nora gasped, "you found your parents?" She couldn't help but smile. That was great news….

Right?

"I did… and they were alive… and… they wanted nothing to do with me."

"Oh Ren…" Nora tried to remain calm but there was a fury that ignited within her that roared and pleaded to be released. _Nothing to do with him? Nothing to do with him!? THOSE JERKS! Ren is their SON, even if they didn't want to raise a child he's old enough…. Oum my Monty if someone shows me those two bastards I will shove Magnhild so far into their kneecaps, they'd have to walk like a drunk chicken for the rest of their lives!_ It didn't cross Nora's mind that if she did that, they would simply use a wheelchair, but that was beyond the point.

"I was a mistake… some… night of alcohol and regret. They not only wanted to get rid of me… they wanted to forget.

"When I asked why they went through with the pregnancy… it was because… they couldn't afford…." With that he burst out into tears.

 _Really? Who are these two people? Who would openly tell their long-lost son, who's been looking for them for so long, that?_

* * *

Pyrrha heard two people sneeze: a middle-aged couple with fair skin (like Ren's) and a rather cantankerous attitude. They seemed to argue a lot, and it was affecting Pyrrha's focus as she combed the village. Thankfully, the simultaneous sneeze stopped them, and they sneezed into each other's faces. Gross, but the champion had a feeling they deserved it… somehow.

* * *

"I'm not supposed to be here… I wasn't even meant to be born…." Ren lamented, his hands returning to his face as he sobbed.

"Ren…." Nora reached for his far shoulder, and leaned herself against him. "I'm so… so… sorry."

He let his hands down, and then wrapped them around Nora. Nora felt her cheeks redden, as she fought the urge to inappropriately squeal in delight. "I… was so determined to find a family I didn't have…. I pushed away the family I did." Wait… what?

 _Is… Ren….acknowledging what he does to me? All the time?_

"I'm so sorry Nora…. I'm so sorry…" his crying returned. Nora tightened her hug as she and Ren had the moment that Nora had been craving for a long time… a time where Ren was finally vulnerable to her.

It was cut short by something that sounded like the Earth was hungry: a low, ever present grumbling as the earth shook.

* * *

Salem winced as her children were cut down by that sword. It didn't matter, they were just to keep the boy and beast separated from the girl for as long as possible. She didn't plan to catch them both in the wilderness, separated, with the beast in tow. But now with the beast without its powers, and the boy having to fight off the Grimm, and the girl preoccupied, she could strike them down without having to rely on her human underlings.

The less she saw of that permanent smug face the better.

She'll send some Ursae to catch the girl and her friend unawares and keep them from reuniting with the boy, and thus unleashing the power of the beast. They would have to rely on themselves… and against some of her greatest minions, that would require a display of skill they had yet to impress her with.

Even as she felt her children slaughtered by the dustless blade, it lacked technique and strength. It was simple: effective but only to the most minor of opponents.

Her pet was ready: one of her prime children. She may have preferred the Dragon that slept within the mountain, but this child certainly was… groundbreaking…

Groundbreaking? Seriously? Did she really just think that? She hung out with Ozpin for too long, his occasional lame sense of humor leaking into her own monologues… or was it from Cinder and her desire to say something clever, even though all she knew what to do was say stock villain phrases in a sultry voice.

She shook her head. It's okay, she didn't say it aloud, and even if she did no one was there to hear it.

* * *

Jaune was slicing and dicing the hapless Beowulves like they were nothing. Pyrrha's training really was starting to pay off! An Ursa popped up but he decapitated it easily enough. Was that a Boarbatusk? Its belly met his sword before it could do anything.

He was starting to understand why Nora loved battle so much: when you weren't fearing for your life, it was so much fun….

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble beneath him, and the Grimm started lessening on him and Zwei's position. They didn't seem to be fleeing as they were… making room for something.

Zwei, hanging behind the night, its powers latent due to his and Nora's distance, started to whimper and shake, using his ears to hide his eyes. It was adorable… but concerning at the same time.

Suddenly something ripped up from the earth right in front of Jaune, knocking him to the ground. He quickly readjusted himself, raising his shield and readying his sword, looking at what looked to be a gigantic black pillar rising from the ground.

Suddenly, it stopped growing, though it still was planted firmly into the gigantic hole the rupturing blackness left. Jaune looked up to see the pillar starting to bend down and… look at him?

It didn't have eyes to "look" with, but it seemed to be studying Jaune with a massive, circular maw rowed with voracious teeth like a demonic garbage disposal. Suddenly the blackness started growing glowing red dots like some eerie version of the chicken pox. Jaune looked over the "pillar" and noticed these red dots were…. Its eyes.

Returning to the maw, it released a ghastly roar that sounded like thrusting rocks through a durable cheese grater. It then leaned back, and then lurched towards Jaune's position.

Jaune jumped out of the way, pushing Zwei to a safe distance, as the worm-like creature burrowed another hole where Jaune once stood.

Once again in battle stance, Jaune awaited for the worm to return. The ground started to rumble….

* * *

 **A/N: A bit more of a dramatic chapter here, and Salem is here to play! Well, not physically there but if you thought the only thing they'd have to fight against would be Salem's human minions, you'd be wrong.**

 **This was a difficult chapter to write. Pyrrha's POV, the scene with Ren and Nora…. Coming up with a monster for Jaune and Zwei to fight. Hopefully you all find it satisfactory!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! If you're an Evil Mastermind, don't Forget to Practice your Puns!**


	9. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Staying A-Zwei-ve!

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Jaune may not have the most confidence in his battle skills. He may have improved to at least average huntsman level, but even then compared to his closest friends, he was still the weakest in combat. He'd never won a single spar against his seven good friends…. Never remind Jaune of that one time Coco decided to have a "leader's spat" to "harden the first years." He would've shuddered if it weren't for the fact he was currently distracted by something more terrifying.

However, Jaune did value one aspect of himself: his propensity towards strategy. While to consider himself a genius in that regard would require an ego that even a Schnee would blush at, he knew that he was one of the best tacticians in Beacon. In Team battles, he was often the first target, not only because he was the easiest to knock out, but because with him gone, Ren and Nora were easy pickings: Ren being too hesitant into his thoughts to perform a proper strategy, and Nora being uncontrollable to anyone else.

If they succeeded knocking him out, they just lost to Pyrrha being Pyrrha. No one but Teams RWBY and JNPR knew her semblance, so they knew why the frustrated team had problems even landing a hit on her. Her semblance was admittedly a bit unfair towards human opponents… but in the Grimm she was about as vulnerable as anyone else. If she was as skilled against Grimm as she supposedly was against humans, would she have really ran away from that Deathstalker the day they met?

Which is why she hoped Pyrrha didn't follow whatever noise this…. thing was doing. He never saw a creature like this discussed in Port's class, let alone in real life. How was he supposed to fight it? Well, regarding his strategic mind, he came up with his favorite strategy. It didn't originate as his own, but he always fell back to those simple words.

Run and live.

Holding onto Zwei, and trying not to trip upon the quivering ground, he sprinted towards Ren and Nora's location. Whatever personal conversation they were having was bound to have been interrupted… Oh by Oum, what if there was more than one of these things?

If he could get to Nora, maybe by the power of the dog this thing could be destroyed, and they could safely walk back-

The thought was interrupted as a black column erupted right in front of him, knocking him back once more. He let go of Zwei, who flopped around a couple feet behind him. The corgi immediately propped itself back up, worriedly panting as the worm loomed over Jaune with its expectant maw drooling.

"Uh… Zwei, are we close enough to Nora for you to do anything?"

"Woof."

Jaune sighed. He had no idea what Zwei tried to say, but he considered the fact the bark didn't set off some sonic waves as an answer. He turned to the monstrosity pursuing him. "So… uh… what's your name beautiful? I've never seen a Grimm so… big." Whenever Jaune was nervous, his mouth entered autopilot.

After another ear-splitting squeal, the worm descended once again onto Jaune's position, and once again Jaune successfully dodged. He could at least feel confident that he knew how to avoid things… except teen drama, which seemed to follow him like his shadow.

He looked for Zwei, finding him huddled underneath a fallen tree, propped up by a stump. He lunged for Zwei, wrapping his arms around him, and then continued running towards Nora. There was no way he could fight this thing, and he would NOT possibly lead this thing to the village of Mulan. He continued running towards the lake, using his memory to guide himself. His hands were preoccupied holding Zwei to reach for his scroll to find them like he did with Ren earlier. So he had to rely on what felt like the right direction… which happened to be left, ironically.

Unfortunately, the "worm" seemed to have other plans, as a massive split in the earth cracked a couple feel in front of the running huntsman in training. The crack then spread, revealing a massive chasm of darkness… where some Creeps starting crawling out of.

 _Great, either there are a lot of Grimm underground, or this Grimm spawns MORE Grimm._ Jaune had heard of the Grimm birthing Grimm phenomenon only available to incredibly old and specifically powerful species of Grimm…. He wouldn't be surprised if the worm was one of them.

He was tempted to jump over the chasm, but he reconsidered it. Just because he was a better fighter didn't mean he was a better… uh… _mover_? Pyrrha, Ren, and even the usually straightforward Nora were capable of amazing feats of graceful fitness, while he was still a klutz in everything but handling a sword and shield properly. He couldn't trust himself to make that jump.

So he stopped, and put Zwei down to cut down the Creeps. It was a good thing they were just Creeps….

Five Deathstalkers crawled out from the smoky abyss.

"Oh C'mon!" Jaune exclaimed. This was ridiculous. He retreated, once again picked up Zwei, and tried navigating around the forest. The worm seemed to be taking a break for now, but the earth still stuttered underneath his feet. Just because he wasn't above ground attacking him didn't mean it wasn't doing something.

Was he actually going to fight that thing? Without Zwei's powers? Whelp, dying a virgin didn't seem to matter after you die, it's not like you feel any of the regrets you have….

…. Yet he was more than just himself and his regrets. He had a team. He had to live, for their sakes: no team should ever have their leader fail them… at least a leader who just accepts his own death.

He put down Zwei. "Zwei, look for Nora, and if you can, bring her to me." The dog looked at him with blank dog eyes, but he sensed confusion. "I'll distract whatever this is, you go get help!"

"Woof!" Zwei dashed in the direction of the lake, Jaune could only hope he made it.

He drew Crocea Mors. The basic blade was, while ancestral, had nothing special to it besides nostalgia. Even his father used something else, he just took it because it was the only huntsman weapon available to him.

A couple Creeps came upon him. He sliced them up. A couple Deathstalkers arrived. He dodged their pinchers and swiped at their stingers. The ground protested, shivering almost in fear. Jaune stood still… at least he tried.

He would stand here and fight until he could make sure Ren and Nora were safe.

* * *

"Jaune?" Nora called out. She was hoping that all the rumbling was like… Jaune being really hungry, or Ren's angst just causing the Earth to tremble…. Or maybe she was hungry? She had indeed been up way past her bedtime, and she heard that sleeplessness led to an increase in apatite. But if that was the case, why did she not _feel_ hungry?

"Nora, incoming!" Something seemed to have snapped in Ren. He looked more visibly focused, as Stormflower as drawn and he was visually combing the area. Nora looked up to see an Ursa lunging towards her. Magnhild was not drawn, but as she told herself that one drunk night, she knew how to throw a mean punch… and how to wrestle.

She leaped into the Ursa's own leap, and then wrapped her legs around the Ursa's head. Thrusting the stupid Grimm to the ground, she drew Magnhild from her back, and fired a grenade point blank at the Ursa's head.

It didn't stand a chance. It also didn't stand at all.

As Nora stood up she witnessed a plethora of Grimm emerging from the wilds: nothing as ridiculous as five Deathstalkers, mostly Ursae, Creeps, and Beowulves. She extended Magnhild, and started to bash some skulled heads.

Ren danced around her, firing bullets from every angle before taking a break to extend an aura filled thrust at a Grimm, shattering it. Nora forgot how he did that, something about finding his inner peace and channeling it through his soul, to his aura, then to the spatula… No, wait: that was Ren's explanation on how he made excellent pancakes.

She drooled at the thought of Ren's pancakes, and channeled her hunger into a merciless drive as she continued to violently crush the bones of her victims. Grimm blood splattered around the lakeside like some M-rated gore porn as Nora smashed everything into merciless dark piles…. It was a good thing everything cleanly evaporated to remove any disgusting details that would be completely unseemly for Nora to witness. The Grimm are sometimes so considerate.

Nora panted heavily during a lull in the assault. She looked over to Ren as shot one last Beowulf in the face. "That seems to be the last of them… that… felt good a bit."

"Nothing like a pack of Grimm to relieve some angst!" Nora exclaimed, raising her hammer in a pose of prideful victory. "Wooo! I am the Queen of Castle built on Your Corpses! Yay!"

Ren continued to pant heavily, "yeah… yeah… nice to hit something instead of wallowing…. By the way, you said Jaune helped you find me!"

"Yeah! He just went a distance away to give us privacy and…. Uh oh."

"Jaune is able to handle himself, he can fight…." Ren seemed to stop speaking as he looked up to the sky. "Oum, my Voice Actor." Usually Ren's squinty eyes extended into a bug-eyed look of horror as the earth beneath them shook once again.

"Are earthquakes common in this part of Remnant?" Nora asked. It had been quaking on and off, but she didn't think anything significant from the tremors.

"No." Ren stated, "but then again, the region hasn't stated any sightings of a Slaggeater."

"Slag….Eater?" Nora questioned as she turned around. She was shocked to see in the distance an arc of darkness, spotted by red, that curved through the air. It then disappeared into the trees, a tremble then shuddering the ground beneath her, almost tripping her up. "What the hell is a Slag Eater?"

"Slaggeaters are Class M Grimm…. Like Grimm Dragons, M for Mythical. They rarely show up in populated areas, not because they hate populated areas, but because wherever they are, humans usually end up dead." Ren's voice trembled. "I read about them in a book once…. They can cause tremors in the earth, create chasms with murky dark depths that beget Grimm, and very few hunter teams have ever been able to take one down. Usually an appearance from one simply begs for evacuation, as most safely assume it can't be taken down… we have to return to Mulan!" Ren then adjusted his attire. "We must evacuate the premises. Clearly with such a sighting the populace have already made the proper emergency calls."

"Wait, Jaune!" Nora realized in horror. "What if he's…"

Ren face contorted in realization… "you mean… that the Slaggeater."

"The Slaggeater has to be attacking SOMETHING, and I highly doubt it's a squirrel." Nora started feeling panic once again cover her inner emotions. "We gotta…. What?" Nora found her leg being touched and pounced on. She turned around fast with Magnhild drawn to see Zwei lightly pouncing on her.

"Zwei?" Nora exclaimed, dropping down on her knees. "Jaune is he?..."

"Woof."

"Is that a 'he's alive and needs our help!' woof, or a 'he died in my paws' woof?"

"Woof"

Nora hoped that it was the former.

 _Wait…. Zwei could… could he? I mean, he is stupid powerful, but only if Jaune and I are together._ "Ren," Nora stated, her face serious. "Go back to Mulan. Help in the evacuation. I'll look for Jaune."

"Wait…" Ren started, looking really confused. "Is that the dog that Yang asked us to fetch from you? What's he doing here?"

"SHUT UP REN! Trust me for once, you go to Mulan. You help Pyrrha with the evacuation, if she's there and not foolishly trying to rescue Jaune."

"Like you're trying to do?" Ren countered.

"I have a plan. A plan that might work. Ren, you really want to make up for all those times you pushed me aside?" Nora looked him in the eyes, "prove to me that you trust me."

Ren opened his mouth, then closed it. "Nora… I can't."

"We're Huntsmen dammit!" Nora exclaimed, Ren recoiling from the rare occurrence of her swearing out loud. "If we ever hope to succeed, we must place ourselves in danger for the sake of those who can't fight! You help the village that you've grown to know. I help Jaune! Don't question me!..." she then paused, "also, I'm taking the dog…. And I honestly can't explain why, but you won't be able to stop me!"

Ren sighed. "That, I can believe." He put his hand on Nora's shoulder. "Just… get Jaune back, and run. I know you are very powerful, but that type of Grimm…"

"I won't fight it, at least not offensively." _I mean… I won't._ "Just go… go help the village people… the citizens of Mulan not the band." Ren smiled at the unusual joke, as he turned around.

"Oh, and Ren!" Nora called out for him, Ren turned around. "Your 'parents' don't know what they're missing in not loving you."

* * *

Pyrrha was an expert combatant. She knew all of her battle strategies and techniques. She was an expert in the art of war: human on human conflict.

And while she knew a little bit about Grimm from being one of the few people able to pay attention in Port's class… she had no idea what that dark thing arcing through the sky. She did know one thing.

 _That thing is trying to hurt MY JAUNE!_ While Pyrrha didn't think herself possessive… she had some tendencies. Thankfully, as the many who noticed her crush realized, it wasn't self-destructive or disturbing… unless if something threatened his life… or if it involved Weiss.

The village flung into a panic, as the unusual earthquake hit. When it seemed to be caused by a gargantuan Grimm that seemed to lurk the forest, chaos increased elevenfold. Pyrrha wanted nothing but lurch herself into the forest to make sure her dear team-mates, and Jaune, were safe from whatever that thing was.

However… she was Pyrrha Nikos. She couldn't help but try to calm down the common folk of Mulan. It was in her nature. She wanted to exude an aura of authority, but mostly of comfort. She had spent too long being feared, that she just wanted to be loved…. Damn, maybe she should see a psychiatrist like Nora suggested.

' _You know, I could have a psychiatrist about my things, you could have that same psychiatrist! We could totes be crazy buds!'_ Nora had a weird way of giving advice.

Pyrrha grunted as her thoughts wrestled with her desire for action. "Everybody!" She called out. She had neither charisma nor confidence to give order to people… she just knew how to fight. "Stay calm!" _Remember all the inspiring speeches you've seen in movies… let's do this!_ "So… we will not vanish into the night! Four Score and a couple years ago Remnant was founded! You may not handle the truth, but the walls that need to be guarded are the responsibility we take, and even if you can't fathom it, we do it! We are the heroes you deserve, as well as the ones you need! Remember the Alamo!"

The populace looked a Pyrrha with sheer confusion. _That… sounded a lot better in my head._

"Let's just fucking run!" One of the men said, and panic once again ensued. Pyrrha sighed, wishing that Jaune was with her and not in the forest to help her corral the people. She then remembered that the forest was where the dark beast in the distance was attacking. _Jaune!_

The tumultuous spasms of the crowd lurched like a snake-like parasite bursting out of a chest. Cries for help were heard, as well as last wills and testaments. A person even fashioned an "End is Nigh" sign on the last minute, and walked around waving a ponderous and ominous bell. Pyrrha was at a loss… with this much fear and panic, that massive Grimm would surely be attracted to the village.

Yet the massive Grimm continued simply leaping into and away from view along the horizon, as if it was playing a game of chase within the trees. However, the panic did seem to attract some minor Grimm… Grimm that Pyrrha could kill in her sleep if she was an avid sleepwalker.

She transformed Miló into its rifle form, and started shooting down the tiny Grimm that attempted to hurt the civilians. As larger foes appeared, she returned her weapon to Xiphos form and dashed in and started cutting heads. Her elegance in combat was further exemplified once for the public to see, as the Grimm barely stood a chance against her proper form and flawless technique. Pyrrha forgot about the onlookers though, she only considered her prey.

For all the commotion of the village, the amount of Grimm were fairly small…. It was almost child's play, with the only difference from Pyrrha's typical child's play in that it didn't involve plushy fuzz strewn across the room, but evaporating Grimm blood and fur. Also Pyrrha didn't smile; her face retreating to the stone cold gaze of the champion that happened whenever her weapons were drawn.

She didn't even notice it when Ren returned, panting as if he ran a long length of forest trail that took half a chapter to cross.

"Glad to see you're on the case Pyrrha." Ren stated, with the lazy sarcasm that occasionally accompanied his attempt at friendly conversation. "Has any form of evacuation arrived?"

"None." Pyrrha stated. She wanted to ask _where the hell have you been?_ But she was too busy focusing on the task at hand to ask obvious questions. That would have to come later. "Where's Jaune and Nora."

"Nora went off to find Jaune…. He gave us personal space before the attack in the woods happened…."

"WHAAAAAAATTTTT!" Pyrrha shrieked.

"….I had a feeling that would be your response," Ren mumbled.

"We have to get there right now, Jaune could be in trouble!" Pyrrha started dashing towards the forest before Ren caught her.

"The village is also in trouble, and needs us. I trust Nora to bring Jaune back." Ren looked darkly into Pyrrha's eyes. "Nora sees Jaune like family. You aren't the only one who loves him… maybe only in 'that way,' but I can tell you that Nora would hate herself as much as you would if she failed Jaune… and Nora hates hating herself. She will succeed, or at least try as hard as you would."

Pyrrha was mute. Ren had never talked about Nora like that. Normally it was just jokingly casual about how annoying she was to him.

"I trust Nora. Please trust her with me."

* * *

Jaune was incredibly thankful that not only was his aura unlocked… that it was as large as it was.

The worm creature continued wrecking through the earth like it was some overly large plush toy that it could easily tear apart. While Grimm seemed to spawn from the occasional tear in the earth it created, normally it took enough time for them to crawl up that Jaune could put enough distance between him and the creatures that they were distracted by the more tumultuous village.

Still, the worm itself was an insane opponent. It had yet to even make a direct attack at him, yet from what it was doing, it was creating a fence. Overly large ravines stopping his attempts to escape, jagged rock formations forcing him to exert more energy to overcome them… it was trying to wear him down. Grimm were supposed to be mindless attackers, yet this being seemed to have a strategy… or a desire to toy with him before it eventually grew tired and thirsted for his blood.

With that in mind, Jaune tried to lighten his run, and conserve his energy. His aura allowed for fatigue to not hit him so harshly, so he caught his breath as he lightly jogged and focused mostly on observing the best times to dodge rather than constantly exerting energy in moving fast.

The worm seemed to catch on. It unearthed itself and created a perimeter with its body, ensnaring Jaune like an overly large python, creating a small arena with its flesh. Jaune was surrounded by one creature… it would have been embarrassing if it weren't so terrifying.

The worm roared at him, but as if in victory rather than attempting to threaten him. It lunged into the ground as Jaune quickly dodged to the side. The worm buried itself into the earth, but instead of encasing its entire body within the ground, it quickly re-emerged its head where Jaune was standing.

Jaune found his feet standing on one of the larger teeth of the vortex-like maw of the worm, as there were no lips for him to comfortably perform the splits on. His legs spread out just uncomfortably enough, he winced as he was rocketed into the air by the worm. When the worm stopped moving vertically, he was flung off, launching outside of the arena the worm made for him, and into some other area in the trees.

The impact shocked his aura. It had yet to go away, but he felt the extension of his soul starting to crack. _It seems that this thing isn't going to just let me go… should I fight it?_

To consider offensively fighting this thing seemed about as good an idea as asking Weiss out with a poorly thought out song with a guitar.

That didn't stop Jaune though. What was stopping him now? _The idea that failing at this would result in his death?_

He turned around to see a couple Beowulves lunging at him. He sliced them down quickly before the worm once again returned, gazing at him with that hungry mouth of its. Jaune didn't sheathe Crocea Mors and run this time.

The worm lunged; Jaune raised his sword, giving the most threatening battle cry he could muster.

It still sounded quite girly.

* * *

Ren was very rarely flustered and confused. His mind was like a lake that existed far from human society. No one threw stones in it, and no one attempted to bathe in it. It was a calming marvel of nature untouched by its own moving lifeforms.

Yet even if there were no humans to disturb it, rain would fester the lake. Sometimes, even a rock would tumble down a mountain and land within it, startling its surface. And occasionally, some reclusive hippie would find it and skinny dip within its depths.

Ren was flabbergasted. Nora not only had just arrived out of nowhere, but then somehow took charge? Since when did that ever happen? It's not like he looked down on Nora, but she wasn't the type of person to try to control a situation, in spite of her desire to be "queen of the castle."

Maybe Jaune was having a good influence on her? In two days, while it may seem small, Nora could absorb all that was necessary from a single human being from consistent companion contact for a short period of time.

Ren would've shrugged it off if he wasn't busy helping Pyrrha organize the panicked civilians of Mulan. It was almost farcical how stupid they acted. "Oh! These beings are attracted to negative emotions like fear, let's NOT KEEP CALM and run around like chickens without our heads!" One of the main reasons Ren tolerated Nora's insanity is because her insanity was more tolerable than the stupidity of the average person.

Occasionally, a Beowulf or Ursa would show its head outside of the massive wood… they were easy prey. Sometimes it would be something more intimidating like a Deathstalker. Less easy prey, but combined with the village automated security turrets, they weren't too bad to take down… they were smaller and easier than the one in initiation.

Besides, he had gotten more skilled from previous year, as well as Pyrrha. Grimm who dared tried to infiltrate Mulan would've regretted it, if they were capable of feeling emotions. It didn't take long for local huntsmen to arrive to the village to further defend it. No one bothered entering the woods. The Slageater was beyond any self-employed huntsman's paygrade.

He could only hope that Nora and Jaune could evade it…

He continued guiding people to the safe zones until he saw…. Them…. That argumentative couple. They weren't "together-together" as Nora would call them, but he summoned them both to… talk to them. And apparently they were still together. Whether it was reminiscing or arguing over their past misfortunes… they still were together when the Slaggeater emerged.

The two looked at him. He looked at them. He directed them to the safe zone. They nodded.

Ren held his anger and shame when he saw the two that wanted to ignore him. They were still people, and Ren promised to protect _people._

However, seeing them again reawakened the emotional tornado within him, but instead of collapsing into self-pity, it was transformed to aggression. His form became less precise and lethal, but more brutal and aggressive. His bullets were spread across great radii, and the blades punctured into the eye-sockets of many Grimm. The controlled, aura fueled strikes that were common in his usual Grimm fighting were absent, in favor of more reckless, aimless, yet powerful strikes.

"Ren! Ren! Are you okay!" Pyrrha called out to him. He reigned himself in as he regarded his famous team-mate.

"No." Was all Ren said, as he continued slaughtering the minor Grimm that arrived in the village. He didn't notice Pyrrha's concerned look, as she continued doing the same, albeit with more grace.

The loud arrival of the bullheads distracted Ren from his bloodlust, as he saw the Beacon professors arrive. Port, Oobleck, and Goodwitch, with tired, annoyed, yet determined looks as they landed within the village.

"We received that your village is under attack of some exceedingly strong Grimm." The green haired history professor began. "The academy of Beacon is eager to assist those guarding you as well as providing you safe transport to the city of Vale, where a relocation program will be underway to make sure that you can resume normal lives as soon as possible." Oobleck ran through the protocol announcement with the usual speed his voice allowed, which made the average civilian relax from their panic to scratch their heads in confusion, their ears not used to such vocal speed.

Goodwitch sighed. "These bullheads will take you somewhere safe, we'll take it from here." She stepped off, and looked bewilderingly at Ren. "Mr. Ren… Ms. Nikos? What are you two doing here?"

"Uh…." Pyrrha seemed confused. Ren was less so.

"Visiting family." Ren stated simply. "Don't worry about us… but Nora and Jaune are alone in the woods… with a Slaggeater."

Glynda paled at that, while Port jumped up like he was on a trampoline. "A Slaggeater? Here? Those things only exist in the deepest parts of the badlands. Hell, the only Class M Grimm in the Vale metropolitan area is that Dragon within Mountai-" Port's mouth was immediately covered by Goodwitch.

"What he meant to say, are you sure it's a Slaggeater and not an overly large King Taijutu?" Goodwitch clarified. Ren decided to simply point at the forest for dramatic effect. The Slageater arced in the sky and disappeared into the trees once more. Goodwitch, while clearly not impressed, seemed convinced. "Damn," she muttered…. "Wait, you're telling me Jaune and Nora are somewhere in there?"

"Yes."

"Do they have a dog with them?"

Ren knew the answer to that question was yes. But… why would Goodwitch think to even ask that question? What even qualified, "is there a dog with them," as a standard question in grasping a situation?

Still, he answered honestly. "Yes."

"Oum my Monty you gotta be kidding me…." Goodwitch stated. "Port! Oobleck! Assist in evacuation… I'll retrieve Mr. Arc and Ms. Valkyrie!"

"Understood ma'am." Oobleck hurriedly responded.

"You can count on us! I assure that I myself have done many…. Oh, she's gone." Port sagged as his preferred audience left.

As the adult professionals overtook Ren and Pyrrha's job, the situation became much more controlled. Masses of worried civilians transformed to orderly lines towards the bullheads

"Hey, Port, can you send anyone to Vale with your... asteroid... transport... senblance?" Pyrrha asked the plump professor, who was gesturing people to get on the bullhead.

"Whatever are you talking about my dear?" The jolly man responded, "my semblance is increased lung capacity! It allows me not only to have increased stamina in battle, but allows me to share my amazing stories without taking so many breaths!" He said without taking a breath. He then gave a jolly laugh. "What would make you think I'd have such a weird semblance? If someone had that semblance, he or she'd be tasked with every evacuation job there was!"

Pyrrha looked confused, but Ren thought nothing of it. "Hey Pyrrha," Ren suggested, "let's check the southern area of the village… its the poorest portion of the village, and thus the least defended. We should make sure they are okay."

"Yeah…." Pyrrha seemed to trail off, as if she had a question in her mind. Ren didn't think it was important.

* * *

Jaune didn't stand a chance. Even if he somehow grew to the level of Pyrrha in a year, it wouldn't have been enough.

The worm seemed to toy with him: whipping him with its tail into his torso, lobbing him into a tree. It seemed to even stop spawning Grimm, as if it just wanted him for itself.

It also stopped roaring, but it seemed to give a guttural cackle, every time it swiped him, every time an earth spike tripped him, every time he trembled at the quivering earth it created. This creature of pure darkness seemed to have enough of personality sans a soul to enjoy his suffering.

Jaune normally would've cried at feeling so weak, but he recognized something so ridiculously powerful. He wasn't even sure if Pyrrha could take this thing down. Could Goodwitch even take this thing down? Could Ozpin?

He never saw Ozpin fight though… he could just be wise but about as combatively powerful as a toothpick…. Jaune snickered, imagining himself like the headmaster of Beacon: physically weak but with a mind that makes up for it.

He took joy in that thought, but it didn't change how fucked he was… and not in the way he wanted to be… Damn, if he wasn't so hung up on Weiss he could've found something outside of Pyrrha… not that sex with Pyrrha sounded horrible, but it was so risky.

Was his mind seriously getting this hormonal during a life or death situation?… then again, his life was flashing before his eyes, even the more regretful parts, and his fantasies for some reason.

The worm then whipped its tail… or would it be simply called its behind? It's not like a worm had a "tail." Jaune felt his aura fade… as well as his consciousness.

The last things Jaune heard was his own name being shrilly called out, and a "woof."

* * *

"JAUNE!" Nora called out. She ignored the towering, slithering creature that wrapped around the area, she ran and slid towards Jaune, holding his head and caressing his hair.

He had fainted. And while Nora didn't check her aura readings, she could sense his aura was about to break… Jaune was near death. _No. No no no Jaune I can't let you die. I love you!_

What? Nora paused for a millisecond before realizing she meant that in a familial sense, not a romantic sense… right? She shrugged off her worry as she tried to look for a way to awaken her fearless leader.

She put her head on his chest. He was breathing. Good, but she wanted him awake. What could she do… could she… could she…

Should she perform CPR? He may already be breathing, but who knows, maybe some extra air would force him awake!

She pressed on his chest a couple times, before leaning in to blow air into him. Her lips were less than an inch from Jaune's until she realized…

She had no idea the proper technique for mouth to mouth.

So instead she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.

Jaune's eyes flung open as he screamed "ouch." He rubbed his cheek as he looked at Nora. "What the Hell, Nora?"

Nora giggled, and didn't respond. She turned around to see that the Slaggeater was preoccupied.

A white and black ball whizzed around the creature, striking it at many of the red dots, which Nora now saw as eyes. The creature, while clearly displeased and preoccupied, didn't seem to fatally wounded. Zwei had his powers available to him… but Nora wasn't sure if it was enough.

Jaune tried standing up, but he groaned and collapsed back onto the ground. "Stay there," Nora told Jaune, as she reached for Magnhild. "I'll handle this sicko!" She then reached into her pocket and pulled out the Taser. She jabbed it into herself, as she felt the vibrating power of electrons course through her body.

She couldn't help but giggle. She recognized danger, but boy did she feel good doing this!

She jumped up saw the maw of the Slaggeater meet her. She shifted the hammer to the grenade launcher, and fired it into the gaping hole. It shuddered away from her, retreating slightly before repositioning itself for another strike.

She landed on the ground, staring into the twisting patterns of teeth that seemed to stare. "Hey Ugly!" Zwei landed next to her, panting but seemingly not out of fatigue, but from determination. "Renny told me all about your species! Something something very few people have been able to take you down? Well guess what, you're dealing with Nora Valkyrie!" She pointed at herself, "and a mythical dog beast!" she pointed at Zwei. "If you are as smart as old Grimm are, you would run! Otherwise, I'm going to have to show you the meaning of getting SMASHED!"

The Slaggeater didn't seem phased. Nora decided to make it regret that confidence. "Zwei…. DO A BARREL ROLL!"

Zwei seemed to immediately get her meaning, and he started rolling over…. Creating a giant tornado. Nora raised Magnhild, and started channeling electricity, and then unleashed it within the turret of wind. What resulted was a winding maelstrom of wind and lightning, aimed directly to the gnarly (gnarly as in "being gnarled," not a dated way to look cool) mouth. The Slaggeater didn't enjoy it, contorting as the violent surge of unfriendly energy coursed through its body.

Nora looked at the supersonic vortex of the rolling dog and decided to do something silly. She pulled back Magnhild like a golf club, and aimed for the dog. "FOOOOOOOOORRRRRREEEE!" She cried, as she knocked the dog through the wind tunnel, straight into the squirming worm.

It went straight through the Grimm, forming a large wound. Nora didn't think that was enough though, so she whistled Zwei to come back to her… which she hoped Zwei recognized. It did, and it boomeranged through the worm once again, creating a giant hole.

Nora then jumped incredibly high in the air. "SMAAAAASSSHHHH!" She screamed with renewed glee. As the Slaggeater seemed too focused on its newly formed wounds, it failed to notice the descending Nora as it landed on its "head."

She ran along the serpentine body, shooting grenades into all the eyes she could find. "Zwei! Come, and track mud EVERYWHERE!" The dog yipped in glee as it jumped an absurd distance onto where Nora was running, mud caking its paws. It ran with Nora as she continued shooting grenades all over the place… then succeeded with even larger explosions from the dog's mud tracks.

Both of them jumped off. "Zwei… fix this area up with some reverse lasers!"

Lasers originated from the many craters the Slaggeater created… then closed them up, constricting the ground upon the worm beast, causing it to be temporarily stuck, as it started to spasm, attempting to once again free its movements.

Nora started getting flashbacks to when she was a Flickémon master… but this time it was real life. It was intoxicating!

As the worm squirmed, Nora ran up to it and slammed its midsection with a wildly powerful strike, and through blunt and strong force, it cut the being in half.

But Nora knew she wasn't done. She recognized the Grimm's evolution from a worm… and worms could regenerate from severed parts… and she wouldn't have been surprised if this worm did the same thing. It was considered a Class M Grimm, which were often joked to be Class M-possible.

So she turned to Zwei. "Doggy, do you know how to dig?"

"Woof."

"Dig through this bastard…. Both segments!"

"Woof!"

The dog buried itself in the writhing segments of the Slaggeater… and when it was done with the first, it immediately burrowed in the other. Grimm blood sprayed everywhere.

And then it dissolved… the blackness ceased its existence.

Zwei popped up and panted in joy. If Nora could, she would've given that dog a high five.

Jaune lost consciousness again, and he missed the entire thing.

Goodwitch, however, watched the whole thing unfold, and was too shocked to even intervene until it was all over.

* * *

Jaune awoke on a bullhead, with his own head searing from a soreness he couldn't explain. He opened his eyes to see Pyrrha hovering over him, Ren sitting off to the side clearly thinking about things, and Nora, holding Zwei, talking to Goodwitch.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaimed a couple of seconds after his eyes fluttered open. He was greeted with an aggressive and wanting embrace… and Jaune was confused. He knew Pyrrha liked him a lot, but he also knew that Pyrrha was incredibly shy about those feelings…. What was going on?

Wait… he tried remembering recent events… the dog…. The trip in the woods…. Goodwitch's book collection… the worm…. Oh yeah. The worm.

How was he alive? How was everyone else alive? What the hell happened, did…

He put the pieces together. Zwei and Nora must've done something.

"Hey Pyrrha" He responded as soon as his mind caught up. He didn't feel like making an awkward silence. "I'm sorry for worrying you…"

"Worrying me? WORRYING ME?" Pyrrha let go and looked in his eyes. "I was terrified! I thought I lost you, I thought I lost my….." she paused, "…my partner…"

"Pyrrha," Jaune stopped her by holding onto her cheek, his fatigue limiting his feelings of awkwardness, "it's… it's fine… I'm fine… and hopefully you're fine as well…"

Pyrrha visibly blushed. Jaune wondered how it took so long to notice her crush…. Probably because he had six siblings who were equally doting… and naturally it was hard to associate romance to assistance.

Then there was his seventh sibling… He'd rather not think about it.

Zwei was then placed on his lap. Pyrrha and Jaune looked up at Nora. "Glad to see you wake up Jauney!" She winked. "Here, snuggle with the dog. That should help you recover…" _Or not barf on the way back to Beacon._ He smiled at Nora. "Thank you… I am a dog person."

Pyrrha then gave Jaune a confused look, "you know, as I think about it, you have a scroll tracker as a leader, right? And Ren told me he had his scroll…. Why did you need the dog again?"

"Uh…. Pyrrha, I'm going to tell you, but I really…. REALLY need a nap. You have no idea what it's like fighting a giant worm…."

"A Slaggeater," Ren interrupted, walking up to him. "Professional huntsmen die to that thing. You and Nora not only survived, but killed it…. While I can imagine Professor Goodwitch helping that… but… excuse my skepticism if that's the full story."

 _Slag Eater? What the Hell is Slag, and why did the worm want to eat it?_ Jaune sighed. "Look, you two deserve an explanation… but I'm too tired ( _to think of a proper lie_ ) to explain it properly… so… can you please let me rest?"

Ren nodded, as well as Pyrrha, but not before she whispered, "Port's semblance is increased lung capacity, not comet transportation."

Jaune would've cursed himself, if he wasn't thinking, _well, that explains a lot._

* * *

 **A/N: Fave! Follow! Review! Eat some Slag, it's Nutritious!**

 **Now, I have never done omakes, but one of my most loyal readers, Smithrooks, suggested one. Now, I don't want to be a crowd-pleasing-follow-all-suggestions kind of fanfic writer, but since this guy not only reviewed every chapter I ever wrote, including the ones in Weiss vs. Atlas (my other, less popular, fic), but also advertised my work on the RWBY reddit, I owe him a little bit of fan-service.**

 **Though, he did simply ask for Yang how to teach Salem to pun… I decided to make it something more ridiculous.**

* * *

 _ **Omake: Gram-mar has more WEIGHT with PUN-ctuation, Salem!**_

 _ **A Salem X Yang Omake…. Yes, a Salem X Yang Omake. You did not read that wrong… Is there a ship name for these two? How about: Witch at the Stake?**_

* * *

Yang knew she was bi. She liked the form of both men and women, and liked to imagine the intimate moments with either of them. It truly made her feel free to value the sexual beauty of every person, indeterminate of their sex. She found even more liberating when she viewed Salem.

Salem couldn't even be called a human without making severe assumptions and exceptions. She was more Grimm than human, but that was what made her so alluring! She was different! She wasn't like anyone she ever met! She was… exotic…

And what else rhymed with exotic? Eroti…

"Yang!" Salem called for her. "I have to call my associates, could you look over my speech… I want it to be perfect darling…"

"You bet Salem!" She cooed. "I'll remove the… Grimmperfections!"

Salem groaned. "You and your puns!"

"You know," Yang slid towards her girlfriend, stroking her ghostly white hair, "puns might actually make your speeches more memorable…"

"As in memorably bad!" The monstrous lady snorted.

"Nonsense! A pun reminds people that, in spite of your otherworldly power… you still have a mind capable of making jokes! It doesn't matter if the joke is good or bad… it only matters that people recognize you TRIED to make a joke… they'll relate to you more!"

"You…" Salem looked at her lover shyly, "you really think so?"

"Here!" Yang pulled her planned speech from her hands. "So… here you state you want to kill Ozpin. You then later call him a relic of a dying time. How about there you call him a 'h-oz-been!' You know, it rhymes with Ozpin, but sounds like 'has been?' Geddit!" Yang gave Salem the smile that the witch of Grimm grew to love. She nodded. "Indeed, that looks horrible in print, but I guess vocally…"

"Vocally it will rock your henchmen's world!" Yang pecked Salem on the cheek. Her skin was cold, but it didn't matter to Yang, for she could bring enough heat for the both of them.

Salem smiled. "What other suggestions do you have?"

"Well!" Yang continued to comb the speech. "When you describe what you will do after Beacon falls, you describe it as a fallout. But since Cinder Fall is leading it, you could call it a CINDER Fall-out!

"Also, you want people to bow before you when the CCT tower falls… so you could say your replacing the 'tower' with 'bowers!' Or, if you want to really be fancy, 'kow-towers!' Because of kow-towing…. That ancient art of performing the most humble bows possible?"

"I remember," Salem responded, "I was alive for that, remember that I'm about as old as time itself?"

"Oooh, I knew I liked you. Mature women are my thing!" Yang licked her lips, as Salem's pale skin blushed.

Yang continued listing off puns, and Salem made changes to her speech based off them. She truly valued Yang's opinion: Salem loved her.

Her minions awaited her orders from the multitude of glove phones she gave them all.

"We are so close to our goals. Soon, we shall start a new world order. You might call this, a Salem-pire!... you know, like empire, but with my name…."

* * *

 **A/N: Smithrooks, I hope you're happy…. Seriously though, this is thanks for being such a loyal reader!**

 **I may make more omakes if I get suggestions. As long as they give me a silly enough idea that I can't imagine even giving a full story, but one giving at least a short little paragraph about to maybe draw a laugh or two….**

 **Also… if you give me a crack-ship that's possibly even more ridiculous than Salem X Yang, I may not be able to help myself but give it a silly go in the omake section!**


	10. Paws for Thought

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Team JNPR had not slept in practically 24 hours. They were exceptional students; well, two of them were, but none of them were used to extremely late nights: all of them believed in their personal health.

When the bullhead arrived at Beacon and unloaded its passengers, Pyrrha looked the most tired. It made sense, she had been emotionally drained and strained, as well as forced to fight Grimm. Ren disappeared without her knowledge, Jaune was in danger by some Class M Grimm…. The fact she didn't take this opportunity to sleep on Jaune's shoulder as the bullhead made its way to Beacon annoyed Nora… and… relieved her?

Okay, she had to sort this out. Was she starting to crush on Jaune? Nora loved to deny things not only to others, but also herself, but by Oum she could only believe her own lies for so long. So, after Goodwitch talked her ear off by both scolding her recklessness while applauding her bravery and sighing in regard to the dog, she sat down and did her best Ren impression: she thought deeply, and when they disembarked the thinking continued.

She and Jaune had spent an inordinate amount of time together the last couple of days, even if she avoided him entirely today… or yesterday considering that it was so late it leaked into the morning. She learned a bit about his family, she learned his personal emotions on Pyrrha, and they worked on a homework assignment together. All he needed to do was make some amazing pancakes to make her heart soar, transform into a bird, which happened to be a stork, and have her heart deliver a baby of her love without any naughtiness happening!

…Okay her heart wasn't that much of a sellout towards pancakes, but she had to admit if Jaune did one more good thing she probably would have to admit to herself she had a crush on him. Why? Didn't she have a crush on Ren? Wasn't it emotionally impossible to have a crush on two or more people.

 _Nora… why do you think people cheat but then regret losing their partners?_ Her history of lackadaisically watching reality television returned to her. _Dammit, I may have a crush on both the men in my team. Great._ Nora wasn't one to look upon herself in annoyed sarcasm, but this was an emergency!... Nope, okay not really an emergency, more like a special circumstance! Yes! That's the phrase!

Who the hell was she, some vapid idiot in an overly long romance novel series? _Oh! I like two boys but there could only be ONE true love!_ Give her a break.

No! She refused! She would not be that way!

Besides, if she had to make a choice, there was a clear answer. Pyrrha had expressed resolutely that she was into Jaune. It would break every rule of the girl-code to attempt to sweep him from beneath her. And Pyrrha was her first female friend. She couldn't ruin that with pursuing Jaune, in spite of his lovably shaggy blonde hair, his kind and empathic nature, the way he just melts into a hug as his firm body….

 _I do have a full on crush on Jaune…. I hate everything._ No! That was the wrong idea! Nora loved everything! Including her leader apparently… wait, no! Not like that!

"Nora…." Ren moved up to his friend as they walked back to campus, "you're gripping Magnhild like you want to hit something…"

"WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THAT?!" Nora roared, as she tossed Magnhild with full force; the hammer flying yards in front of her, eventually stabbing and embedding its handle into the courtyard statue.

"Because Magnhild had replaced your teddy bear since…. Three years ago?" Ren shrugged. "By the way, Glynda is right behind us…." _Oh crud-buckets!_

"Ms. Valkarie…. Why did you just lob your hammer at the prestigious statue that has stood at that spot since Beacon's conception?"

"Uh…." Nora looked incredulously at the stone huntsmen proudly standing over the Grimm…. Even though if any Hunstman did that in real life, they would immediately trip and fall because the Grimm would evaporate from underneath them…. Nora tried and learned in that regard.

"Because… post battle nerves?"

"She did just survive a Slaggeater, Professor." Ren supported.

Nora gave a sheepish smile as Glynda gave an understanding yet knowing look. "Fine," she responded while raising her crop. Magnhild was ripped from the statue and floated back into Nora's hands. "But please control yourself next time."

Nora nodded as she looked at Ren who shook his head with playful frustration. They caught up with Pyrrha and Jaune, who went on ahead due to the thirsting desire for bed, and Jaune wanting to return Zwei before Team RWBY woke up. The sun was creeping on the horizon, unleashing faint reddish orange brilliance before the full yellow could bathe the courtyard with its bright rays.

"This is going to mess up our sleep schedule," Pyrrha yawned, "let's set our alarm for noon. That way we won't be too jet-lagged."

"I would call it 'mission-lag' considering we didn't even change time zones," Jaune yawned, "but yeah, sounds like a plan Pyrrha."

Nora could hear Ren mumble, "I want to sleep in." Nora elbowed her partner, "well, it's your fault we all stayed up late tonight… no more running off, at least not without telling anyone."

"I feel guilty, I really do," Ren replied, "but I really just want my sleep."

Nora could run on the energy of Nora for a long while…. Especially if given a decent amount of sugar and maybe a sip of coffee, so she felt fine, despite having fought a gigantic monstrosity of eldritch proportions. Heck, it probably WAS because she fought the Slaggeater she felt awake; the adrenaline of battle did wonders for her.

Still, she probably could use some rest. As Jaune once self-deprecatingly said, " _Who needs a girlfriend? I'm already sleeping and cuddling with my bed every night!"_ The way Pyrrha's face seemed to flash from that remark, plausibly by some instinctual imagination trip, was even more hilarious than Jaune's joke.

They reached their dorm to find Weiss sitting at the entrance of Team RWBY's door… on the floor? Weiss Schnee: sitting on the floor? Nora was too dumbfounded by such uncharacteristic humility that she failed to notice Weiss was reading a newspaper.

"Woof."

"Zwei?" Weiss looked up from the newspaper, as the dog leaped from Jaune's arms and onto the floor. The dog panted as he looked at Weiss with that signature puppy-dog look.

"Why was Zwei accompanying you?" Weiss gave an accusatory look at Team JNPR.

"He found us," Jaune stated simply. Nora nodded.

"Really, I th-mmph!" Pyrrha's mouth was immediately covered by Jaune's hand. Ren was going to say something but Nora was faster than her leader, with her palm covering his face before even a thought that could correct them surfaced.

"They just arrived from a long mission, and we thought we'd greet our half of the team, and Zwei found us. Nothing that you needed to worry about. There was no danger brought upon your dog at all." Jaune finished as he removed his hand.

"Oh. Right! Yes, I'm sorry, I'm a little ditzy, I haven't slept in like a day or so…"

Weiss seemed to buy Jaune's excuse. "Fine. But next time just knock on our door and return him… or send him in from where ever he escaped from… I'm assuming Yang left the door ajar again for one of her bathroom runs…" Weiss mumbled. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm reading the news."

"Why can't you do that in your room?" Nora asked.

Weiss gave a deadpan look as she turned the page. A loud crackling echoed in the hall as the paper shifted and bent around Weiss's fingers and shifted at the binding. "Newspaper is loud, and the library opens later in honor of the holiday." Weiss shrugged. "So I thought I'd just read in the hallway, I have to keep up with the business news. It's what I'm expected to do as a Schnee."

"Oh yeah, your company hullabaloo," Nora replied, waving her hands in the air like she didn't care. She did care about Weiss but she also loved waving her hands in the air.

"Well," Jaune yawned, "sorry for stealing Zwei again, we just thought a dog would be a great welcoming…. Thing…. Damn I'm tired, let's take a nap." Pyrrha and Ren nodded as they went into the room, but Nora stayed. She saw something on the front page of the paper. It looked…. Weird.

"Uh… what's on the front page?" Nora asked.

Weiss huffed. "Probably some stupid celebrity scandal or some depressing crime story. I rarely read those, I don't need to know any pointless or horrible thing that happens in Vale. I just need to be informed on what pertains to me, which as a future heiress is the business market. Might sound selfish, but what can I do about crime and sex scandals? I certainly can't enjoy them…"

"I dunno… reading sex scandals can be fun!"

"When your father is involved?"

"I don't have a father so I wouldn't know!" Nora shrugged. She saw Weiss's face shift in an awkward form of pity and inability to respond. "Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to 'guilt-trip' you there, I've accepted it so long ago it's just something I blurt out sometimes like it's no big deal! Ren's the one who gets bothered by it… though now…."

Weiss sighed, "fine, just..." she closed the newspaper and looked at the front page, "here I'll give you this story you-" Weiss paused, and then looked closely at the paper. "What on Remnant?" She then seemed to be read through some of it, her eyes darting to and fro as the confusion continued to settle into her gaze. "How the-" she then looked up and looked at Nora. Then back at the paper. Then back at Nora. Then back at the paper. Then back at Nora. Then back at the paper. Then back at Nora. Then back-

"Weiss… you're going to hurt your neck!" Nora interrupted the unending face jerks that would've gone on for a longer while if she hadn't stepped in. "What's… what's on there?"

She mutely gave her the paper. _Two Young Adults Murdered! Video Captures All!_ The story told how two then un-named young adults were walking around Vale late into the night, until they were mowed down by gunfire. The videographer called in the crime, but when the police arrived, the bodies were gone, with no evidence of a struggle. While the video is currently undergoing investigation to see if it's fake, the one witness passed the lie detector test.

What was curious was the still from the video provided on the newspaper. It was a picture of the two young adults who were tragically killed.

They looked like Jaune and Nora.

* * *

Illusions were her specialty. Steal video camera? Done. Concoct a scene of a murder. That's a scoop of ice cream. Disguise Roman Torchwick? That part took a little bit of creativity, since she can either make one invisible or change base physical features that still exist within the dimensions of one's frame: i.e. she couldn't change a face shape and height. However, with a little bit of hairstyling, eye changing, and outfit swapping, he seemed different enough.

All she had to do was make a news story that convinced people for a day or two that Jaune and Nora were murdered. That could be something she could give the boss lady. When it turns out that Jaune and Nora were still alive, then she could just pull on a frustrated face, fake that she was tricked, and go on with the mission. Any other attempt to kill Jaune would have to be thwarted down the line, but this was a solution to delay them AND keep herself and Torchwick out of hot water.

She now held the newspaper in her hands triumphantly. She was reading the comics as she awaited her brand new friend: and when she meant "brand new friend" she meant "person she won't kill for now."

The orange haired idiot came in, clutching a newspaper in her hand. Oh, she already saw it? Even better! She washed her face in the bathroom sink while breathing heavily. _Ooh, she's having an existential crisis?_ Neo mused. _Hmmm…._ She wrote an illusory message on the mirror.

 _You're Welcome._

The way Nora jumped up in shock almost made Neo laugh, but she didn't because that would make a sound. She appeared before Nora with a sly smile as she propped herself stylishly with her umbrella.

"Neo!" Nora gasped, "I…uh… didn't see you there…" Neo continued staring at Nora, who gave her a puzzled look when the shock wore off. "So… I assume you have something to do with this?" She lifted the newspaper and pointed at the image of 'Jaune,' and 'Nora.'

Neo nodded, and gave a mock curtsey as if welcoming applause. Nora didn't seem to get the hint until Neo gave her a death glare. Nora then lightly clapped. She continued her curtsy.

"Uh… thank you? I mean… I have no idea how you did it but considering your sort of just standing there I don't expect an explanation." _Hmm,_ Neo thought, _maybe this girl isn't so vapid as I thought. Still, she is quite annoying._ Neo turned to leave, but before she could vanish…

"Jaune knows you attacked me, Neo. I didn't tell him, but he found out."

Neo's instincts made her grab her parasol, extend the blade at the tip, and rushed over to Nora's neck. The orange haired child's aura would protect her vicious prodding, but she could wear it down. Her mismatched eyes bore into turquoise ones.

"Maybe I shouldn't have said that…"

 _You think?_ Neo 'responded.' How did Jaune figure out? Was he a pervert spying on Nora?... No, he didn't do things like that even in the apex of puberty: that and she probably would've seen him. Was his semblance mind-reading? What was her brother's semblance? Cleary the fact he was in Beacon his aura HAD to be unlocked… right?

She was getting side tracked, which she never did. _Dammit Jaune, I blame you._

"So…" Nora started, "we might have started on the wrong foot. You fighting me, me putting you in a headlock, you whipping my naked body with my own towel like some lesbian porn video..." Neo glared. "I'M SORRY MY MOUTH RUNS ON AUTOPILOT!... huh, that sounds like a straight porn video." Another glare. "SORRY!"

Neo stepped back, weapon still drawn.

"Well… maybe, I don't know, we should like, hang out? Get to know each other outside of… these. I'll buy!" She gave Neo a nervous smile, "sorry, I just like making friends, and I don't have a real family so my friends are family, therefore the family of my friends are family… which means you!"

 _Is she being serious? I've like…. Tried to kill her._

"Yes… you tried to kill me, but now you tried to save me, you know? If you weren't worth knowing, you would've kill me regardless of whether Jaune was my friend or not… so… yeah…. Uh…. There's a little bit of likability in anybody, that's my saying! That… I… just made up!"

 _She is being serious…. Is this lady crazy?_

"We could bring Jaune! You could reconnect! Oooh, you, me, Jaune, we could bring Ren and Pyr… nope, nope we have to do this right! No thrusting you into things your uncomfortable with, just us and Jaune… yeah…. Yeah I like it! How about it Neo?"

Neo couldn't understand a single motive other than sheer stupidity or naiveté. She typed on her scroll.

 _You know I've killed people, right? I'm a murderer, and would be a wanted criminal if I wasn't so damn good at not getting caught._

"Well… yeah…" Nora agreed, "but Ozpin is so mysterious he's probably killed people before, and I like him! Haven't you ever heard of a likeable anti-hero? I bet if our life was some kind of TV show, you'd be considered a bad guy, but people would root for you because of your spunky personality!"

Neo stared at Nora. There was no explanation, no thought, no emotion that she could summon to possibly comprehend what this crazy orange-haired nut-job (no wait… nut-jobs are way too sane for this, she's more like a Nut-Shop), all she could do was stare, and hopefully that stare was menacing enough to drop it.

"Look, I know you don't like me. But you like Jaune… and well… it might be good for you both to… rekindle that bro-sis relationship of yours! I don't know… it was a stupid idea."

 _You're damn right._

"Still," Nora moved as if she was going to leave, "Jaune might like knowing his sister isn't fully the freak that everyone thought she was." Nora left.

Neo paused: an unfamiliar feeling wrenched in her gut. _Guilt?_

* * *

Nora took her newspaper, not that she blamed the Valkyrie. Weiss would've done the same thing if someone who was the spitting image of her was murdered. The uncanniness of simply observing it was enough to give her pause. However, she shrugged it off. Nora was alive, and Jaune was clearly alive, that was what she truly cared about. Whatever tragedy befell their doppelgangers…. Wait…

What if THEY were the doppelgangers…

"Duh, Duh, DUUUUUUHHHHHHH!"

Weiss jumped to see Ruby, who just left the room, headphones covering her ears. Ruby turned to regard Weiss, taking off her headphones. "Oh, sorry, I was just getting into this song I was listening to… what are you doing sitting out here?"

"I was reading the paper you dolt!"

"You don't have a newspaper…."

"I had one!"

"Okay!" Ruby just accepted it, "well, I'm getting breakfast, you want to join?"

Weiss sighed, she hadn't had breakfast yet. "Sure, but please promise to not talk with your mouth full."

"Hey! I was just really excited about what I was going to say!"

"It was over an X-ray and Vav comic!"

"It was a great plot twist!"

"A person could see that twist from a mile away!"

"Pyrrha didn't see it…"

"Pyrrha can't see anything outside of a battlefield."

"She could see Jaune's potential…"

"She could see Jaune's handsome face and obliviousness towards her fame."

"Did you just call Jaune handsome?"

"That doesn't mean I'm into him!"

Ruby laughed, "I'm teasing! Sorry, Yang sometimes rubs off on me sometimes."

"I noticed." Weiss sighed, as she also ignored the innuendo that 'rubbing off on someone' has grafted onto it. Damn Yang.

They arrived at the cafeteria, the line barely existent due to no one wanting to wake up early on a vacation day.

"Surprised not to see Yatsu wandering about, usually he's the first person to rise in all of Beacon. Maybe he's finally sleeping in?" Ruby inquired

"Team CFVY has been bizarrely absent ever since the year started." Weiss observed, not recalling seeing them after the first couple of days of classes. "They're probably on some special mission, they were the top of their class of the Second Years."

"Yeah…" Ruby shrugged. Then her eyes perked up, "hey, guess what happened last night?"

"If it has anything to do with that same dream where you use your semblance to run around in a kitchen while you carry some 'thyme in a bottle,' and people call you Quick Silver-Eyes…"

"It has nothing to do with that! …Though that dream did happen." Ruby admitted, "I got a call from Jaune, said he needed to borrow Zwei from some mission, and that he already got him, and I woke up to still find Zwei here! And I checked my scroll, the call did happen!" Ruby shrugged, "must've been some quick mission."

"….That's not what Jaune told me…" Weiss thought aloud, disregarding Ruby's look. "He told me he did nothing to put the dog in danger, that he just found it and used it to greet his returning team."

Ruby laughed, "he probably did that to avoid you telling Yang. Don't think I didn't notice those dirty looks she gave him two days ago!" Ruby gave her partner a smile, "look, Yang still can't stop feeling guilty for the incident that killed our family's first dog…. She can't help but feel protective of that thing for her life, if not to help lessen the guilt." Ruby shrugged, "still, I know that I trust Jaune and all of Team JNPR with my life, let alone my dog. Don't worry about it! He returned him, didn't he?"

"Well, that explains the name 'two.'" Weiss was always confused by that, as someone who knew the archaic language the dog's name was based on.

"Exactly!" Ruby reaffirmed. "I mean, I'm partially to blame for Yang's paranoia, young me REALLY did not like my sister after that. Not the best thing to experience while grieving in your own right. Thankfully, I have matured thanks to time and of course," Ruby raised a glass of white liquid, "milk!"

Weiss laughed at Ruby's common explanation for how mature she was. "Fair enough," Weiss replied, "what did Yang do, if you mind me asking?"

"Ah, nothing that was directly her fault: just her usual impulsive self, just younger and with less foresight."

"Oh Oum," Weiss shuttered, "yeah… I can imagine that leading to disaster."

"And it did."

Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, and then burst out laughing. There was no need to dwell on the tragedy of the past, but maybe the odd humor in them. Father was the one who wanted her to look perfect and flawless, yet was the one to give her a scar. She told Ruby that story, and while Ruby was comforting they ended up laughing at how hypocritical her father was.

"Hey look! It's Nora!" Ruby turned to an arriving figure in the cafeteria and waved her hand, "What's she doing up? Usually she's a heavy sleeper when she finally calms down…"

"She arrived back from wherever her team was early in the morning… she might be one of those, 'stay awake as long as possible' types to avoid jet-lag."

"Hmm," Ruby wordlessly observed as she continued trying to get Nora's attention. The bomber seemed to notice them after Ruby started jumping and dashing around in a couple feet bursts causing rose petals to scatter about and land on her whole grain cereal. She had no idea what the nutritional value of semblance generated flower petals, but she rather not find out as she picked them up and flicked them away from her well-balanced breakfast.

"Hey guys," Nora greeted, but it seemed to lack its usual chirpiness. Weiss could guess why, but it still didn't make sense. No matter how uncanny seeing someone who looked like you reported dead, Nora seemed to be one of those people that bounced back quickly. There had to be something more… maybe it was what happened on the mission?

"Morning Nora! How are you doing?" Ruby gave her signature chirpy smile.

"I… may have asked to have lunch with a murderer… other than that I'm just fabulous!" The iconic Nora smile returned as Weiss just sort of stared at her. _Lunch with a murderer… is that a turn of phrase I never heard before?_

"Uh…" Ruby always being more cordially vocal than Weiss (while Weiss was always more critically vocal), "… like literally? Or… figuratively in a way I don't understand?"

"Literally…" Nora sighed while she slouched on her stool, eating her pancakes. "…it's a bit weird. Personal matters; can't get too open about it."

"Oh." Ruby seemed to not know how to continue the conversation, so Weiss butted in. "You're not making some deal with a gang are you? If that is to be taken 'literally….'"

"Oh, nahhhh!" Nora responded, "just…. Trying to make friends with a person… who… has sort of an interesting history."

"Ohmigosh it's not someone from Team BLDD, is it? Rumor has it all those edgy people at least murdered SOMEONE!" Team BLDD (Blood) was a first year team, filled with edgy, remorseless, and powerful semblance students. Their adventures were filled with rumors, and they beat every student in their year. Their leader, Berry Sue, was almost perfect in every way, even though it was rumored she was a ruthless killer….

"No…. why would I hang out with them? All they seem to do is brood and emotionally monologue about how complex they are!" Nora sighed, "just…. I don't know, I can't explain it properly. How are you two doing?" Nora's desperation to change the subject was clear, but Weiss knew Ruby would humor her, that's what she does.

"Well! We're doing fine, nothing really happened except Yang's 19th birthday!" Weiss shivered, recalling the… previous morning. She still couldn't believe Yang did that to her. Apparently 'nothing happened,' but she still felt violated.

"Oh yeah, that was fun…" Nora seemed to drift off. Oh yeah, she went with Yang bar-hopping. As someone who shared a similar experience, she could understand the trace of regret in her voice.

"Other than that, it was just a boring long weekend: homework, internet surfing, working out… yeah, nothing special."

Nora nodded. "Same here… with some noticeable differences."

"As I heard, how did that mission pan out? What did you need Zwei for?" Nora's eyes widened in panic, which Ruby seemed to register, "don't worry, we won't tell Yang. Jaune will not be murdered."

"Oh, okay….. uh…" Nora seemed to search for an answer, "because…. We… we're looking for….. the Arc of the Covenant!"

"The what?" Weiss interjected, having no idea what that was.

"The original tablet where the ten family rules of the Arc Family were inscribed…. Yeah….. we looked for that!" Nora had beads of sweat dripping down her face.

"Wait…. The Ark of the Covenant was a real thing? I thought that was only in movies!"

"Yeah! It was a graaaand adventure! I wish we could've invited you but you were sleeping!"

Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, and even with Ruby's occasionally insufferable naiveté, she seemed to doubt Nora's excuse. However, Nora was not someone they felt warranted pushing. If she was hiding something from them, it must truly be something troubling or something she was placed in good faith to keep secret. Weiss had her team mascot alive, and no one seemed to be hurt; making Nora feel uncomfortable seemed like a crime against happiness.

The three engaged in friendly conversation until they felt full. Nora excused herself as she walked off, leaving Ruby and Weiss alone.

"Want to practice kissing?" Ruby asked.

"What?" Weiss recoiled from such a bold claim.

"Want to practice shifting?" Ruby motioned to the weapon strapped to her back, "I know Myrtenaster is rather static, but you still need to make practice when to shift and how to shift properly, as do I with my complex baby…. You know, you mentioned it before…."

"Yeah… sorry, I heard something else."

* * *

"So… you should find your problem taken care of Cinder." Torchwick stated on the phone.

"Thank you Torchwick, I hope to find your associate soon with us, our teachers are missing her," Cinder's voice was mired with sarcasm that made no sense, because the teachers did indeed miss Neo… or as she was called, Lacey Mint. "Do keep stockpiling dust for us… I'll contact you if we need anything else."

"I know you will, goodbye." Torchwick hung up, and Cinder's smug grin stayed the same because she couldn't change it. She strutted over to her favorite chair, as she sat at it and continued looking smug. She pulled out a white glove, awaiting Salem to be available for her to make a call and to confirm the kill that was orchestrated by her strategic brilliance.

The glove seemed to react: Salem was available. She pulled the glove up to see Salem looking at her. "Salem, your targets have been eliminated, now all that remains is that we must…"

"They aren't dead." Salem replied bluntly.

"What?" Cinder's grin jerked into the angry frown. "What do you mean they aren't dead?"

"They were not even in Vale last night, they were somewhere else. Whomever your associates killed was not them!" Salem seemed uncharacteristically frustrated, as if she also failed at something. However such a thing would be impossible.

"What should I do then, my queen?"

"Don't send any more lackeys from your faux team… send in that faunus guy… he's already a criminal, he doesn't have a reputation to lose. Hire HIM to kill the two, but make sure the Beast is away from them, they've already started training it."

"Yes, my Queen. I will ensure…." Salem hung up.

* * *

Jaune closed his eyes trying to sleep. He was still thinking a lot about what he was to say to Pyrrha.

He never got a chance to really discuss their relationship in private, as he intended to. Thanks to that stupid worm, he had to find another scenario where he could have a private conversation. Maybe the rooftop? No, that's where Pyrrha TRAINED him. He could either make it so awkward that the training would lead nowhere or do it after, which would end their training session on a potentially bad note.

Why couldn't he just trust Pyrrha's love? It wasn't that Jaune could NOT love Pyrrha, as he said she was the best thing that happened to him, but DAMN.

The conversation had to happen, but not right now. Pyrrha needed her sleep, as much as Ren… and as much as he. He was bashed around by a worm creature, how was he not more tired? Shouldn't he just be tormented by symbolic nightmares that represent these questions?

He heard the door creak, and opened his eyes to see Nora sneak in. Instead of going to bed, she sat at her desk, rubbing her face. It didn't seem like she intended to go to sleep, maybe he could confide in her?

"Psst, Nora?" Jaune whispered. Nora seemed to shift to look into his gaze. He saw the turquoise eyes shine in happiness, for some reason. No, of course there was a reason, Nora loved talking to people and helping them.

"Can we… like…. Talk privately somewhere?" Jaune asked as quietly as he could while still allowing Nora to hear. Nora nodded, and Jaune got out of bed in his iconic yet stupid onesie. He couldn't help it; it was so damn comfortable.

Nora and he walked out and sat in a corner where there were only classrooms and not dorm rooms. No one would sanely go near any classroom today, at least this early in the morning.

"So…" Nora began, "what's up?"

"Nora… as you probably guessed, I never really got to discuss my feelings with Pyrrha."

"Well, if it comforts you in any way, I never really got to discuss mine with Ren." Nora sighed and sat down next to him… and her hand was gracing his. Why did it feel so good?

"I'm sorry to hear that… I guess we're both incompetent with the opposite sex." Jaune whispered, as Nora, sitting close to him, refused to look away from his eyes.

"Yeah… we kinda are." Nora giggled but there seemed to be a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Jaune found it cute. Wait… no. Nora is a friend, she isn't 'cute.' _Well, she kind of is. I mean, she's pretty and her humor is pretty on par with mine…_ No! Bad Thoughts!

"I guess… I dunno… what should I say to her?" Jaune asked earnestly. Nora put a finger on her chin and stroked said chin.

"Nothing."

"What?..." Jaune couldn't believe what he just heard. He knew that Nora wasn't the wisest of people, but in terms of people's emotions, she was almost without equal.

"Well, I get what you say about Pyrrha's 'love for you,' but you can't deny it can lead to something more…. Let me help Pyrrha pursue you. Let me help her mature her feelings for you. Give me until the Vytal Festival Dance!" Nora pointed her finger to the sky, "I will figure out how compatible Pyrrha is with you!"

"You want to play matchmaker?"

"I've always wanted to!" Nora clasped her hands together, "please, please, please, please, pleeeeaaassssseee!"

Jaune laughed at Nora's adorable antics… he meant regular antics. "Sure, I guess…. Just… well, don't ruin our partnership while you try."

"You know I'd never let that happen!" Nora saluted Jaune. She then paused, "so… what about Zwei's training schedule?"

Jaune actually had been thinking about it on the bullhead ride back to Beacon. "Every other day, we do need our sleep, as much as I can imagine Zwei does." Nora nodded.

"And… uh…. How should we summon him?" Nora asked.

"Um…" Jaune couldn't help but blush, "the kiss on the cheek worked. I mean, if that makes you uncomfortable…"

"It doesn't!" Nora replied suddenly. "I mean… it's just a cordial cheek kiss among friends, right?"

"Yeah…" Jaune replied. He couldn't help it though, feeling Nora kiss him on the cheek felt… good.

"So, with that settled, I'm going to… uh… do things!" Nora skidded off, away from Jaune. The boy could only imagine what hectic thoughts were going on in her head.

… He also couldn't help but admit that he was… intrigued enough by the past couple of days to want to know.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's the end of Act I. Before you ask, Salem isn't omnipotent or omniscient. She can only sense what her fellow Grimm can sense, so she has no idea that Neo and Torchwick planned their thing, because there wasn't any Grimm in the city.**

 **Also, I will tell you ahead of time this WON'T be a love triangle story. I am not a big fan of that trope, it just felt like a crime to not acknowledge Pyrrha's crush on Jaune.**

 **Follow! Fave! Review! Stalk Someone in a Bathroom…. Actually… Don't do that.**


	11. Learning New Tricks

**A/N: Sorry this took a while relative to other updates, I was focusing on making a rather difficult-for-me chapter to write for Weiss vs. Atlas. It may not be as popular, but I don't want to play favorites. The only reason that this story gets updated more often in that it's a simpler and easier story to tackle.**

 **Also, to those wondering, how powerful is Jaune? Without Zwei in the equation at least. Jaune, in terms of the main cast, is combatively the worst: 8 out of 8, the medal of shame in Mario Kart. As compared to Beacon, he's average. When your main tutor is one of the biggest and most skilled combatants her age, you learn how to be exceptional, or at least learn exceptionally fast. While some fics that ship Jaune with someone other than Pyrrha, they tend to make Pyrrha's training sessions good, but not fully complete, relying on the one shipped to fulfill some combative need… I don't feel that's necessary. Pyrrha's training is enough to make Jaune a good fighter, at least for his second year.**

 **I tried to make that clear when he beat Dove, who is stated to be CRDL's best fighter…. He's around that level now. Once his semblance is added to the mix, naturally he'll get even more powerful, but I won't make him the ULTIMATE WARRIOR. Just a good asset to the RWBY JNPR dynamic…. Like, when the semblance is revealed he COULD beat some members of the main cast, but only in the way that "they don't know what his semblance is," weakness. Unfortunately for him, it's fairly obvious to the opponent once he activates it, so he can't keep it a constant secret like Pyrrha. That's all I'll say.**

 **Also, in how good he is as a battle tactician. He's good. He's definitely one of the most tactically and strategically minded of the Beacon students, but he won't be this tactical wonder-child. He'll just have good ideas and good strategies, and he can use it to win team fights because most team fights ignore that aspect of a battle. In some fics he's just the best leader ever, and while I can believe that Ruby and Coco would defer to his ideas after finding them sound, a TEACHER letting Jaune take control of a situation? No.**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Blood Steel: a rare metallurgical phenomenon that had confounded scientists and modern day weapons manufacturers and crafters. Its sharpness was without equal and almost fantastical, in that it could cut through the very thing that the greatest warriors relied upon for survival: aura. It required finesse for its potential to be realized, but a well-aimed and precisely timed strike could slice off the arm of a wielder of a most resplendent aura. These were not myths; they were true.

However, the art of forging Blood Steal was lost; rumors being that only one powerful forger had the capabilities of creating it. By that logic it would've made sense to attribute it to some bullshit semblance. However, it didn't stop the existence of what was forged, and that what was forged was very, very durable.

It was a Schnee he took it from. Adam used to use a simple gun and a simple sword to perpetrate his deeds. Then some hapless rich prick younger brother of the head Schnee wielded the dangerous katana with the most insulting ineptitude Adam had ever witnessed.

Adam considered not killing him… he was a different man back then, but the man was so brazen and annoying: he scarred Adam's face haphazardly slashing that thing around! When Adam wrested the weapon from the Schnee's hands and pointed it at him with proper skill. Adam showed proper use of such an amazing sword by ending the rich bastard's life.

The gun-scabbard of his was modified to accommodate his new toy, and Wilt and Blush was born. With it he led a new White Fang; a more effective White Fang. Even if… she… didn't think it was good… he knew it was the right answer. He knew….

And when he made that clear, he would reunite with her… or let her die. It would be forgiveness to welcome her into his arms once more; he didn't need to force it. It was her choice: him or her death.

 **"** _Baby come back! You can blame it all on me!"_ Adam's ringing scroll interrupted the terrorist from his because Adam's ringtone seemed to contradict how much over Blake he was, didn't mean that's what he felt. He just loved the song!

"What is it?" He answered. He didn't even need to check phone ID to know it was Cinder… everyone else would never dare call him during his designated brooding time.

"I thought you would be happy to hear from me, aren't I not wonderful company? Besides, dark hair, yellow eyes, aren't I what you most desire?"

"What I desire is that you get on with it." _Besides, you don't have cat ears._

"Very well, there are two annoying Beacon students that have eluded one of my best assassins somehow. I need someone who is more direct, with the backing of a small army to ascertain the kill. You seem to fit that need nicely."

"My men are too busy fetching you dust to truly…"

"Why do you think we started a year earlier than necessary? So when these odd jobs need doing, we can properly react to them. We're fine on dust, Adam. All I need for you to do is be a dear and silence two Beacon students before they cause too much trouble."

"I'm a bull faunus, not a deer faunus."

"Whatever you think you are, Adam dearest. Anyway, they are members of the team that contains Pyrrha Nikos: the champion. The male leader, and the other female. Be a dear…."

"Bull…"

"…and make sure they stop breathing soon. Also, make sure they don't have an animal with them. And I'm not being racist I mean a literal animal. Not Grimm, not faunus, not the puppet who plays drums. Animal."

"Understood. Anything else Cinder?"

"Just that by assisting us, you are helping…" Adam hung up. Cinder could kill his men no problem, but killing himself… that he was still skeptical of. And it was enough skepticism to avoid listening to her monologues.

Besides, he was too busy listening to his own inner soliloquies. Where was he? Oh yes. She will taste his Blood Steel or his other sword, if you knew what he meant…. He did have two swords, the one that wasn't made of Blood Steel. If she was willing to return he would only have to punish her with his other sword. Kinky.

* * *

Ren enjoyed sleep more than anyone on his team. Even compared to Jaune after he started wearing himself down with Pyrrha's extra training, Ren cherished having his eyes closed; the soft embrace of mattress and covers that cradled him in an unconditional comfort. He stayed awake to take notes, and he remained so during study hours in the library, but whenever he got a reasonable chance to shut his eyes, he would nap. And he would enjoy it. And he would go slightly short of murder for anyone who dared interrupt this chance of rest.

It's why the occasional cog and wiring of a time keeping device could occasionally be found strung across the room. Having the proper aura-based finesse to release a soul-charged strike that can shatter a Grimm was dangerous when you had a murderous intent towards alarm clocks. He felt guilty, but what did they not understand of "five more minutes?"

Regardless of his desire to continue sleeping, Ren's eyes lazily fluttered open. In a half-asleep daze he looked around the room. Nora was absent. Fair enough. Jaune was sitting at a desk scribbling things down as quiet as he could. Also fair enough. Pyrrha was snoring. The usual.

Yet there was something off, and Ren had a feeling Nora was to blame.

Ren had seven senses outside of his semblance. The traditional five senses, a sixth sense that relied on his good judgement, and his Nora sense. It was a sense that seemed to trigger whenever he had a gut feeling that Nora was up to something. It wasn't psychic or instinctual as people assumed it was, it was a sense that grew after growing up with Nora for so many years, and Nora was a trouble maker. It was a survival instinct to learn whenever Nora was up to something that may or may not be that good.

He scanned the room with his sleepy eyes to find the odd thing out. Jaune was not sitting at his desk scribbling things into his own notebook. He was sitting at Nora's desk writing something in her notebook. What?

"Uh…. Jaune?" Ren kept his voice soft enough to avoid waking Pyrrha, "…. Any reason you're writing in Nora's notebooks?"

Jaune turned around, and while a look of shock was on his face, he remained silent. His face quickly reverted to its usual awkward countenance. "I'm helping Nora with a… new project of hers…."

"Oh no…" Ren did not know fear outside of life-and-death situations, but he did know apprehension and anxiety. Nora always meant well. Always. Yet whenever he heard "new project" and "Nora" within the same sentence, especially when within that sentence the nouns were segregated from each other by an awkward pause, that something harmless yet absolutely terrifying would emerge. The results were not so much catastrophic as much as they were... uncomfortable.

Case in point, when Nora had a new project to become a hairstylist, Ren woke up to see a pink strand in his hair that he could never wash off or even cover with hair dye. How Nora did that he still had no idea. He eventually grew fond of it… eventually. He didn't care if it matched his eyes, it was his hair and he liked it solid black! Even if his name and symbol and weapon and outfit seemed to point towards otherwise, Ren was not a flowery person.

"What do you mean, 'oh no?'" Jaune asked.

"What is the nature of this… new project of hers, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jaune scratched the back of his head, "well, remember when you told me Nora was like a truth seeking hound?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, while you two were away, Nora figured out that I was aware…. of…" Jaune discreetly motioned to his snoring partner.

Ren was not one to let emotions get the better of him. While he knew that emotional responses were things he couldn't control, he knew how he reacted to them and how he coped with them were within his power. However, he had been through a lot these last couple of days. The frustration of a difficult search, the sad disappointment of an apathetic destination, and now…

He wouldn't call it fear. He wouldn't call it apprehension.

It was worry, a worry that Jaune and Pyrrha were going to be pulled down a path that would result in the most awkward of situations.

"And…" Jaune basically gestured at her notebooks, "Nora wants me to write down all the things I like and admire about Pyrrha, and she's going to use that to… coach her… on how to make her heart… more certain in her love, or something? I didn't get the full wording."

"Jaune, you understand this could end in disaster."

"She saved my life, humoring her seems like the least I can do to pay her back."

Ren was about to retort until he realized just how right Jaune was. Sometimes the best way to pay Nora back was just to humor her on her bizarre little obsessions.

Still, he couldn't help but worry that Jaune escaped certain death only to be thrust into social chaos.

 _Maybe I should trust Nora more about these things…She seems to understand people more than me._ A flurry of flashbacks from their time at the orphanage returned to him. The times where Nora helped him connect with their fellow orphans. When she would sit with him at school and make Ren look more popular than he was….

When at the school dance she pushed him into a group of girls so he could "learn how to fly with the ladies…"

"Ren… what's troubling you?"

"What… nothing is…"

"You looked off into the distance like you're having a flashback and you're gripping Magnhild like you want to hit something."

Ren realized that he was indeed holding Nora's weapon. The metal mechanical monolith of a mallet dragged him out of bed into the floor, with a resounding thud that woke up the snoring champion.

"I don't snore!" Pyrrha instinctively awoke to deny what she was unable to hear. She looked around, and seemed perplexed at Ren sprawled on the floor, grasping his partner's weapon.

"So… uh… it's too late for breakfast, who's ready for lunch?" Ren's fearless leader declared, slamming Nora's notebook shut and standing up.

"Yeah…" Ren groaned, "perfect idea." Why did he have to wake up again?

* * *

Ozpin sat bemused as Glynda paced around his office. Very rarely was his associate's composure non-professional, but there was a gleam in her eye that professed frustration, confusion, and more humorously, admittance.

"Well, I'm glad you no longer doubt the power of the beast, though I would've thought that it would've been less than a Class M Grimm to convince you."

"It would've taken less," Glynda admitted, "but that's the thing. A Slaggeater? In a village that close to the main municipality of Vale? Either there is a mass Grimm migration I am unaware of, or… from what I remember from the story… my students are already being targeted."

"If we went through the original plan with infusing one of our student's with Maiden powers, we would've put a target on that person's back anyway! At least this way we don't place what our enemies desire within their clutches while also not sacrificing the personality of another."

"I agree with you on that, don't get me wrong!" Glynda clarified. "It's just… I'm now worried. Ozpin, whatever our enemy is, it isn't some criminal in search of power, it's something linked to the very thing we've been fighting for centuries! I took this job swearing not only to prepare our students but to protect them…"

"And you will," Ozpin reassured, "it's just some threats are too powerful for us to foolishly assume they will not target those we hold dear." He took a sip of coffee, "all we can do is prepare them, and hope for the best."

"But how well can we prepare them? Jaune and Nora are just second years, and are not the strongest to be certain."

"They took down a Slaggeater, didn't they?"

"Slaggeaters are widely regarded as the weakest of the Class M Grimm. Who's to say if whatever is targeting them decides to release the Grimm Dragon buried within Mountain Glenn?"

"Then the necessary precautions will be made. We already have evacuation protocols just in case the Dragon emerges."

"Still…. I am skeptical that Jaune and Nora are ready…."

"That is a safe assumption," Ozpin took another sip of coffee, "however, it is not I who chose the champions, it is the author- I mean the unpredictable and uncontrollable forces within nature that did. All we can do is allow them to become strong enough to face these threats, rather than doubt their abilities. We cannot demand them to be ready now; we can only help them become so."

"What if they are never ready? And what if they could never truly be ready?" Glynda challenged, staring deep into the Headmaster's eyes.

"Then we aren't ready either." Ozpin simply replied.

Glynda gravely nodded, instinctively reaching for her weapon, only to realize it wasn't there…

* * *

Pyrrha sat at the library, speedily writing in her elegant handwriting. She thankfully did not need to do any research on the founding of Mistral for the paper, since that wonderful story was always recounted in the Mistral Regionals' opening ceremony. All she had to do was regurgitate what she had heard over and over, naturally paraphrasing it so it wouldn't be deemed plagiarism, and turn it in for an outstanding grade.

It irked her a little bit that Jaune did the assignment without her help. Agreed, she should be proud of the fact that Jaune took initiative and completed his schoolwork without relying on her academic intelligence. Still…. It would've made the assignment more bearable for her as well: to be answering Jaune's questions, laughing at his jokes, and just bonding in general. She didn't get that growing up. She liked having it now.

Now without Jaune it was just some asinine assignment that cost her time. It's not like she needed to train that much, she was pretty much undefeated in combat class, but she could be using this time to be hanging out with her team! Nora was… well, Pyrrha never asked where Nora was, she occasionally feared what the answer would be. Ren was off meditating, apparently to "clear his head." He didn't tell her what caused him to runaway… but from the way Ren stole looks at his partner, she could imagine Ren opened up to Nora. Which was good!

Jaune, apparently done with his homework, was doing cardio in the gym, but "nothing too harsh, I'm still kind of washed out from that… uh…. Eater-thing attack." Pyrrha could've asked him to accompany her while she worked, but… well, she kind of did. She asked if he needed help on his homework and if they should work together on it… It's not like she could just ask him to keep her company, right? That's WAY to forward!

It's also not like he could fake needing Jaune's help on the assignment either. Asking him for Mistral history help would be like asking Weiss for how-to-not-be-some-uptight-bitch-that-distracts-my-man! Wait… what? Where did that come from?

Jaune had stopped pursuing Weiss a while ago. Why did it still bother her?

It was almost as if Pyrrha could sense new competition for her leader's heart… and if it was indeed a competition, Pyrrha Nikos does not lose.

But that was silly! Would there be anyone other than herself that could truly see the worth that the blonde boy had-

"HEY PYRRHA!" Nora exclaimed as she slid violently into the chair opposite her, almost knocking it down. Nora grasped the table with both hands and pulled herself and the chair up, as the front leggings of said chair loudly collided with the floor, and Nora half-flopped onto the table with a mighty thud.

"Nora!" Pyrrha whispered harshly, "this is a library!"

"It's cool, I bribed the librarian!" Nora then pointed off behind Pyrrha, who turned around to look at an old woman giving her a thumbs-up.

Pyrrha didn't bother following that up with further questions, because she would either get no answer or an answer she didn't like. So instead she sighed, pinched the bridge of her nose, and responded with, "Nora, please tell me you aren't here for some premature girl talk again…."

"You bet I am! But trust me, this one will be productive!" Nora pulled out one of her notebooks and looked into it, scanning through unseen words. She then closed the notebook with a loud clasp, and then bore her turquoise eyes into Pyrrha's green.

"So, here's the thing. There's a dance in honor of the Vytal Festival right? A dance! Where people dress nice and romance saturates the air like sweat in an armpit!"

"Ew…" Pyrrha couldn't help but remark on Nora's analogy. Naturally, Nora ignored her.

"We gotta get you ready for the dance, and not in the 'proper makeup and dress' sense, because your money will get you those. No. We need to get you _ready_!" Nora wiggled her eyebrows and leaned into the desk, with an almost devilish grin on her face.

"What?... I mean… I…"

"What's going to happen is Jaune will start crushing on someone else, and will pursue her! I mean, considering his success with girls, do you truly think he'll think it safe to turn to his reliable and incredibly helpful partner?"

"I…." Pyrrha couldn't argue with that logic. Huh? Nora impressed her with _logic_ of all things. "… well, it's still the good part of a year away…"

"And it's best to seize the time we have! Look, Pyrrha, did you only train days before the Mistral regionals? I mean… I guess it wouldn't surprise me, but I'm assuming no?" Pyrrha nodded. "As I thought!" Nora snapped her fingers loudly. "We not only have to solidify your approach, but also… uh… clarify your feelings towards him."

 _What is that supposed to mean? Clarify my feelings towards him? What is there to clarify? Is she talking about me clarifying it to Jaune? That would make more sense._

"So…" Nora continued leaning on the table, propping her head with her hands, pushing her cheeks up into an adorable chipmunk face, "what do you like about Jaune?"

"What?"

"What do you like about Jaune?"

"I mean… uh… haven't we gone over this… and NOT in a public place?"

"Don't worry, I bribed the librarian to give us privacy!"

Pyrrha looked around to see that the people who were there previously were gone. _What?... You know what, I'm still not going to ask._

"So!" Nora continued, "tell me, what caused the heart of the great Pyrrha Nikos to be swooned by Beacon's greatest leader?" Nora's mock-interviewer tone gave flashbacks to the couple of times she was roped into a gossip-mag interviewer. Thankfully she never had anything interesting to say for them to publish.

"Uh… well…." Pyrrha looked down, her face reddening, "he treats me for me, ignores my fame for the most part, he's nice, he's… kinda handsome in that goofy way…"

"Yeah… he is…" Nora responded, before she immediately and speedily responded, "I say that observationally, not longingly! Continue!"

"He just… makes me feel normal. He… he tore down the pedestal that I'm thrust upon and brings me to eye level, not only to him, but to you, to Ren, to Team RWBY… it's because of him that… well…"

"Yeah, I know that part," Nora interrupted. "But that's what he _does_ for you. What about _him_ , specifically _him_? I mean, the way you describe Jaune makes me think _close friend_ with small amounts of sexual tension, but you've told me you love the boy!"

"I do love Jaune!"

"Well, then prove it to me!" Nora slammed the table for dramatic effect. "What sets your heart afire? What makes you go crazy day and night just knowing he sleeps in the same room? What made you sneak that book away from Blake's stash?"

Pyrrha felt horrified. "How do you know?..."

Before Pyrrha could finish the question, Nora leaned in and whispered. "I know more than you can possibly imagine."

Pyrrha paused, returning to Nora's question rather than her own. "I'm… not… sure… it's just a feeling I get, I guess?"

Nora's challenging gaze softened, "fair enough." Her crazy team-mate sat back in her chair. "So, let's figure this out. How are you going to get your sempai to notice you?"

"Huh?"

"First things first!" Nora began, ignoring Pyrrha's confusion, "what do we know about our lovable and huggable blonde?"

"Huggable?"

"Answer my questions first lady! We're here to help you get your man! Not clarify my weird word choices!" Pyrrha jumped in her seat at Nora's newfound intensity as she slammed something on the desk. Pyrrha was disturbed to see that instead of Magnhild, Nora was wielding something that looked like….

 _Is that Glynda's crop? Nope, not going to ask, it's not like she'll answer anyway._

"Well, he's a good leader. He's funny, though only when he doesn't try to be. He's nice. He's…"

*SWAT*

"You've said all of that before! Tell me something new! Tell me something that only you have learned about him that no one else has."

"I…." Pyrrha thought back to all the bonding they had during their first year. Their sparring practices, their study sessions, the conversations they had about Lice…. She meant Weiss.

"He… likes comic books?"

"Good! Anything else? Like, what's his family life like?"

"Oh… uh… he's an Arc. With a family legacy?"

Nora stared at her blankly, "….is that all you know?"

Pyrrha shrugged, "he doesn't really talk much about his family."

"Have you ever asked him?"

Pyrrha opened her mouth, only to find that she regretted the answer she was about to give. "….no?"

"And there's your problem!" Nora pointed Glynda's weapon at Pyrrha's face. "How much does Jaune know about you?"

"Well, I mean, I guess I talk to him about my family, and my hatred of fame, and… all that, but he's such a good listener, and…"

"And did you give that information just out of the blue or when Jaune asked questions?"

"….when Jaune asked questions."

"And did it feel good to have Jaune ask you a question, giving yourself a chance to reveal information about yourself to a person you care about?"

"…yeah…"

"And did that not make you like him more?"

"…you want me to ask questions?"

"DING DING DING! We have a winner! First prize is realizing the obvious!" Nora smiled genuinely in spite of the surprising amount of sarcasm she just exhibited. "You want to get closer to somebody, you can't just watch them while they're not looking and help them with homework while they are looking; you got to interrogate them!" Nora once more slammed the table, "you need to engage them in conversation! You gotta get in their heads and see what makes him or her tick! That way," Nora finished, "you can evolve your silly little crush into true romance… or maybe you'll realize that Weiss dodged a bullet and so should you." Nora shrugged.

"…why are you suddenly helping me like this?" Pyrrha asked, after a couple long seconds.

"Because!" Nora pointed straight at Pyrrha, "I'm rooting for ya! And I don't want someone else to notice him and possibly ruin my friendsh- I mean… say 'yes' before you have the chance?" Pyrrha sat in silence as Nora seemed to recompose herself, "look, I've bonded with Jaune a lot this long week-end, and… well… it made me root for your relationship more." Nora gave a broad smile, "and I feel though, that it's time to stop pining and start trying… things, like thinking of a better rhyme."

Pyrrha raised her eyebrow.

"Now, I had this full musical number planned, but my backup dancers fell through, so I'll guess will just skip that part of the plan. Now, let's discuss how to avoid insane family members once you two start dating!"

"Uh… isn't that jumping the gun a little too early? Also what makes you think?..."

Nora grabbed Pyrrha by the shoulders with an uncharacteristic look of terror on her face. "Trust me, you should get prepared."

* * *

Jaune had no idea why he decided to work out. Despite not having any homework and exercise seemingly being the best use of his time, he collapsed after running a half-mile on the treadmill. The encounter with the…. "Slaggeater?" was a draining one. He felt exhausted, but he didn't have the desire to sleep. Why?

His eyes diverted to a floral hurricane that broke an elliptical. Four other ellipticals were broken before it… with five broken treadmills further down the line. It wasn't that rare an occurrence, the breakage of equipment, but Jaune could only imagine the frustration of the Beacon mechanics.

After the used elliptical fully broke down, Ruby jumped off of it with a knowingly guilty yet feigning innocence smile that typified those that pushed exercise equipment to their limits. The youngest person in Beacon noticed Jaune collapsed on a bench, and naturally made her way towards it to greet a friend. "Hey Jaune!"

"Hey Ruby, ugh…. How do you do this?" Jaune groaned as he attempted to sit up as Ruby sat down.

"Do what?"

"Endure? Retain energy? Not get sore?"

Ruby giggled, "because we got started sooner than you Jaune…" Ruby gave a teasing nudge to her fellow leader as Jaune breathlessly laughed. "Besides… did anything ridiculous happen during that mission of yours?"

"What?" Jaune mildly panicked until he realized he was talking to Ruby, not Yang. "Well… some Grimm appeared, but nothing too drastic."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure! I was there, right?"

"And so were the professors." Ruby pointed out. Jaune felt his heart start beating against his ribcage. "I looked at the bullhead flight records… well, Weiss did, I simply followed her… the professors left for the same village that you returned from… yet you somehow got there without a bullhead."

"Uh…. Semblance?" Jaune closed his eyes, expecting further interrogation.

There was a long pause.

The pause continued.

The silence was truly present.

"Oum. My. Monty! You know your semblance!" Ruby then immediately vibrated up and down in excitement, "oooohhh, does it allow you to teleport? Close long distances? Ooooh, can you move super-fast like me? Is it…"

Jaune was perplexed by the barrage of questions. As Ruby listed off every theory that would result in fast travel, including the one Jaune made up for Port's semblance, Jaune slowly tried to think of a lie that wouldn't be immediately disproved.

"Uh… I'll reveal it later? Yes. I want to make it a surprise!"

"Jaaaa-uuuuu-nnnnee!" Ruby complained, "C'mon, you got to tell me!"

"Wouldn't it be more fun to see it in action rather than me telling you?"

"Maybe, but I want to know NOWWWW"

"Later," Jaune 'promised,' as he hoped his semblance would appear soon and justify his speedy arrival into Mulan without ratting out Zwei's powers, as unbelievable as they are. Even if no one in their right mind would believe that a dog was what carried them in a comet-like ball of energy to Mulan, he still couldn't risk exposing Zwei's powers on behalf of Goodwitch's command.

Jaune and Ruby considered their casual conversation until Ruby grew restless and started breaking more cardio machines. Something about wanting to hone her semblance well enough to re-enact some 'kitchen scene in a movie.' She also called herself 'Quick-Silver-Eyes,' whatever that was about.

He left the gym and washed up in the locker rooms. As he rubbed himself with warm water, he saw a message on a mirror.

 _Nora is alive. Remember that._

* * *

Zwei was lounging in Team RWBY's room. All of the occupants were gone. Zwei curled into a ball on the cat ninja's bed and breathed relaxed sighs of contentment. He closed his eyes and dreamed. He dreamed of squirrels. He dreamed of giant worms not made of darkness, but made from bacon. He loved bacon.

However, that rest seemed... interrupted by something. An image. Some words. Things that existed without his own mind. He didn't understand all of it, but something was communicating to him.

 _…..Beast…..Power…..trainers are helpless…..former master…. Return…..destroy you…. Summer._

Zwei started barking hurriedly, as if attempting to ward something away from him. He only stopped after 15 minutes when the pale girl with the scar came in, chastised him, yet then knelt down and cuddled with him, making him feel safe.

Still, the dog worried about the voice that just invaded his head.

"Woof."

* * *

 **A/N: Short chapter, I know, but still, this is the start of Act II, which either I could pad out the setup of the plots, or make a short chapter. Hopefully this gave decent length while not stretching an oncoming idea too thin. If I failed in that regard, let me know!**

 **Also, this IS a Nora's Arc fic. This will NOT end with Arkos. Just clarifying on behalf of some concerned reviewers and probably some concerned lurkers. Nothing against Arkos, I personally thought it was cute and tragic that it was ended before it was given time to develop past the "flirting phase," but hey, what's done is done.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Try to Re-Enact your Favorite Movie Scene…. Safely. Please, Don't Do Anything Dangerous…**


	12. The Dog Days of the Semester

**A/N: Damn, it's been a while hasn't it? I'm sorry for unceremoniously dropping off the face of the earth, exiting orbit, drifting through our solar system and going to Andromeda. Let's just say things in life started happening, and so I had to let those things happen and deal with them.**

 **Also, when I DID have some free time….. Dark Souls 3. Sorry. I'm a Souls Junkie…..**

 **While I'm not fully back into a regular schedule, hopefully I can return to the regular-ish updates y'all are used to. Hell, maybe I can get back to regular updates for Weiss vs. Atlas as well….**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, and its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

When Jaune leaned in and kissed Nora on the cheek, there was a surge of heat and literal electrical tingling through Nora. She refused to let the heat reach her face, and willed a blush to not show… yet she couldn't help but feel slightly bashful at Jaune's abrupt display of affection. That was supposed to be her thing!

"It… well… it seems fair that we…. Uh… alternate this 'intimate contact' thing?" Jaune sheepishly explained as Zwei phased through the wall of the vault, floating and rotating in the air as it shamelessly panted.

"Oh, yeah! Of course!" Nora exclaimed a little bit too loudly. Zwei stopped floating and plopped down on the ground.

It was their second training session with the dog. After agreeing to alternate days, it was Tuesday night. Nora almost forgot about dog training until Jaune subtly reminded her. When the subtlety didn't work, Jaune just whispered in her ear to literally inform her of what they would do when everyone was asleep. It was a good thing Pyrrha and Ren valued a good night's sleep over getting ahead on work. As for team RWBY, no problems so far.

"Okay Nora, so for this session we should focus on optimizing the abilities we already know Zwei has, allowing control without sacrificing power, and not needlessly adding to the list of things we need to learn. So…. Uh… we should start with what you used to kill the Giant Worm Grimm thing."

Nora sighed, "Jaune, I know you remember the name of Slaggeater, you don't have to dumb it down for me! Trust me! Remember, good memory?"

"Oh! Oh yeah, sorry….. I just don't get why it's called a Slaggeater so Giant Worm Grimm thing just seems like a more appropriate title." Jaune shrugged as Nora giggled. "But back to the question… what did you exactly use to slay the Slaggeater?"

"Well!" Nora walked over to Zwei, knelt down and started petting him, "first I posed dramatically after shooting a grenade in the Grimm's mouth, and Zwei joined me!" Zwei yipped in confirmation as Jaune sighed and rubbed his temples. "But, to answer your question, I combined my lightning with his tornado, which created this flipping biblical whirlwind of sparky goodness! Then hit Zwei like a golf ball to puncture the Slaggy-Wormy, who returned like a boomerang! Then I jumped up and ran along the worm as Zwei followed, tracking that mine-mud everywhere making the entire worm go boom so much, that it only took one whack of Magnhild to cut it… well not cut it… force it? In half! Then, Zwei dug through all the gutsy bits hollowing it out so that it died!" Nora reverted to a smile. "Oh! And then Goodwitch came up to me and said, 'pinch me… that can't be real!' So I pinched her really hard that she yelped!"

Nora found her lungs squeezing and writhing within her ribcage, noiselessly begging for air as she realized she hadn't even breathed during that whole monologue. She inhaled deeply and returned to her smile… then realized she was holding her breath and released it with a violent gust, blowing Jaune's hair back like the sexy man that he was…. to Pyrrha. In Pyrrha's mind….. _Oh why am I still kidding myself?_

Jaune's nostrils flared, "woah! I mean, it's minty and not foul, but that's strong stuff!"

"Oh! That's just my mouthwash! I also use it to clean Magnhild!"

"Wait… I've seen you clean Magnhild. That was industrial grade weapon cleaner! You use weapon cleaner as mouthwash?"

"MINT SCENTED weapon cleaner!"

Jaune sighed, "how someone like Ren has the patience for you I have no idea."

Nora's fast mind quickly dwelled on Jaune's words, "so… you don't have the patience for me?"

"NO!" Jaune exclaimed, immediately covering his mouth as if that was louder than he expected, "I mean…. I'm used to… antics. I have seven sisters after all…. A good couple of them were a handful to grow up with. It's just…. Ren seems…. So… I don't know…"

"Yeah, he gives that 'Blakey' vibe sometimes. Don't come near me, don't even talk to me, I hate everyone around me. He's not like that at all! He's the most patient, kind, and tolerant individual I know! His appearance just seems to contradict that… though the pink streak I gave him certainly makes him look more approachable, don't you agree?"

"Oh yeah, he told me you did that… How did you make it permanent?"

Nora beamed, "through the power of Nora!"

"….I should've expected that."

"Woof."

"Oh, Zwei!" Jaune diverted his attention back to the dog, "so… you opened up by combining your lightning with his tornado?"

"Correct!"

"… can you combine your lightning with other attacks of his?"

Nora pondered this, her finger gracing her chin as she did her best Ren pose. "Well… I can rarely _attack_ with lightning, I can only absorb it or generate it internally, and convert it to raw physical energy. The only time I actually can 'electrify' something is when I simply channel what is absorbed out of me, which is less like a lightning bolt and more like a glorified version of rubbing my feet on a rug and touching you with all my body." Nora shrugged, "I rarely shock people… at least not electrically. It only happens when my emotions flare or I try to unleash it like letting out a built up fart."

"…thanks for the imagery, both the fart and 'touching me with your whole body.'"

"What's so disgusting about me touch….oh." Nora blushed, "well, you don't have to make it sound disgusting!"

"It's not disgusting! It's just… I mean… I don't want you to… not saying it would be horrible… just…. AHG we're getting off topic again!" Jaune's face was redder than a sunburnt sundried tomato. Nora's mind also drifted to touching Jaune with her entire body…. Pesky hormones! It only made it worse when those hormones were electrically charged!

That was the thing with Nora, why everyone thought she was crazy. She was a human electrical generator. While she could mitigate these electrical charges into physical exertion, when they festered, such as when she stood still, or had to sit in class, or standing around having a conversation with an attractive boy, her body still generated energy that needed to be put somewhere. Sometimes it caused her to fidget. Other times it gave her a desire to talk forever and ever. Sometimes it came out when she was playing whack-a-mole. (She was banned in almost every carnival in Vale) Sometimes it also made her need the bathroom. Sometimes it made. a period arrive too early

And sometimes, it granted energy to the chemical reactions in her body. There was a reason she never read dirty books, or spied on men in the showers, or even touched a man's bicep. She was immune to getting shocked from anything, but she was a slave to her energized endocrine system.

"Um… Nora… you're…."

"Let me guess, I'm gripping Magnhild like I want to hit something?"

"No…. you're gripping my leg."

"WHAT?" Nora removed herself from her mind and saw she was holding Jaune upside down by the leg. She immediately dropped Jaune as he sort of just curled up into the ground, his hands covering the back of his head.

"I'M SO SORRY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT GOT OVER ME!" Nora exclaimed as she helped Jaune up, taking good note to not touch his bicep.

"It's fine… aura, remember? I got a lot of it." Jaune realigned himself and dusted his hoodie off. "Okay, how about we forget all that was said and focus on Zwei, sound like a plan?"

"Yeah," Nora said, her breath catching up to her. "Just… yeah."

* * *

 _"You should be dead," Jaune said, as he reached out his hand to pick Ren up._

 _"Well, it's a good thing I have a team," Ren stoically replied, "Pyrrha and Nora?"_

 _"Still having that dance-off with the Ursawulf."_

 _"Figured, I should've done that dance off with you and Pyrrha zip-line race against the Gryphomores."_

 _Jaune shrugged, "well it doesn't change the fact."_

 _"What's that?"_

 _Jaune looked him in the eyes, his face twisting and turning into the face of a certain villager in Mulan, "you should be dead." 'Jaune' then pushed Ren off a cliff he didn't know he was standing on._

Ren lurched out of bed, breathing heavily. He cursed at himself, a dream getting under his skin? That was for five year olds who saw a scary puppet on TV, not a huntsman-in-training like himself. He had enough self-control to know reality and a dream.

He instinctively looked around the room, and once again, found something off, except it was a lot more noticeable. Despite the late hour, Nora and Jaune were absent from their beds and the room. Pyrrha was also absent from her bed, but he could see her slouched over her desk, snoring as usual like a gargling hippopotamus. She had a pen in her hand, and a notebook opened, with one page exposed an another acting as a pillow.

Ren was curious. But he was also tired. But he was also very curious. But he was also very tired.

However, Pyrrha's snoring was extra hippopotamus-like tonight, less gargling and more like strangling. Ren didn't know if he could fall asleep to that. Besides, it couldn't be good for his team-mates back to sleep slouched over a hard wooden desk. Ren stood up and walked over to Pyrrha's work station, and softly nudged Pyrrha like he was poking a sleeping hippopotamus.

"I don't snore like a pig!" Pyrrha lurched violently from her chair and looked around in a fatigued glaze covering her eyes, with thick bags underneath supporting said eyes.

"Pyrrha, sleep in your bed, not on your desk, you're making too much noise…. By creaking the chair." Ren did not feel like going through Pyrrha's adamant denials about her subconscious sleep-breathing.

"Oh. Yes, of course… I guess I kinda got… consumed by this…." She gestured to the notebook.

"Reviewing the notes from class, we don't have a…" Ren then got a glimpse of it. "….conversation starters? You can't be serious."

"I am serious!" Pyrrha exclaimed while also stifling a yawn, "I haven't ever talked to anyone like a real person. Only as a champion, a mentor, and…. Damn I thought I could think of three things."

Ren sighed, "Nora put you up to this, didn't she?"

"How did you know?… wait…"

"That is indeed a stupid question," Ren reaffirmed, "look, Nora means well but sometimes comes off too aggressive for her own good." Ren shrugged, "so you suck at talking. So do I. Nora does the talking for me. Just… if you want to have a 'normal' conversation with Jaune, just be yourself. No attempts at sounding perfect. No attempts in sounding like his teacher, trainer, or irreplaceable asset. Just go to him as Pyrrha Nikos, not THE Pyrrha Nikos, and work from there."

Pyrrha's mouth opened. Ren knew what was coming, a lengthy thank you.

"No need to thank me in words: just let me sleep."

"…speaking of Jaune and Nora… where are they?"

Ren shrugged, "they are grown-ups that killed a Slaggeater by means they have yet to explain… I think they're safe." Ren headed towards his bed.

"You know… they haven't explained anything have they? Like how they…"

"I do care, but not right now. I just want to sleep." Ren groaned into his pillow. "Just… got to bed yourself."

"Go to bed, not 'got to…'"

"Pyrrha, stop being a perfectionist." Ren closed his eyes. It seemed hypocritical, he was a bit of a perfectionist himself, but he just got up to get Pyrrha off of the desk and into the bed where her snoring was more bearable.

The champion quietly shuffled into her bed, as Ren drifted off to sleep once more.

The next dream was thankfully her and Nora on the old orphanage swing set, laughing as they tried to swing higher and higher until Nora fell off after successfully going upside down.

There was also a singing hippopotamus

* * *

Neo was the master at communicating through facial expressions, so it only made sense that she was also skilled in lying through facial expressions. Cinder paced… well, not paced, more like sauntered back and forth, wiggling her butt as if she was trying to seduce someone, even though she and Neo were the only ones present in the room, with Mercury and Emerald off doing… something. They were going to discuss her recent 'failure.'

"How was Roman Torchwick tricked Neo? Surely he can recognize the differences in faces, he can recognize you most times after all."

Neo shrugged, forcing her face into a frustrated frown. If she could make Cinder believe she was equally annoyed as her boss, then maybe Neo could skirt by unscathed. It's not like Cinder could prove that what was recorded was one of her illusions.

"What did you do with those you _did_ kill?"

Neo pointed at Cinder, then snapped her fingers.

"You burned them… that would've been great if they were the RIGHT TARGETS!"

Neo raised her hands in the air, shook her head, and then loudly slammed her hands on her thighs. She should get a Grouchy for her performance; she made Leo de Alfredo look like an awkward shy kid in a kindergarten Shawcrossmas play.

Cinder seemed to buy it, "it doesn't matter, I have a new associate, someone who is ruthless enough to not make mistakes." Neo looked up at her boss, raising an eyebrow. "Adam could be easily tricked like you and Torchwick, but that man is already in Vale, and has the determination and stubbornness of a bull. He'll kill as many people as necessary to achieve his goals. So don't worry too much about failing me. We'll still get them."

Neo worried.

Emerald and Mercury returned shortly afterwards. When asked where they were, Mercury claimed he was making out with one of Haven's hottest. Emerald had a knowing look, and Neo's scroll beeped.

It was sent from Emerald: a picture of Mercury licking a dirty wall.

Humor aside Neo still felt uncomfortable with the idea of animalistic Adam going after her brother. There was one thing she could do, it wasn't like she could leave Haven again.

She sent a text to Torchwick, using their private, anti-surveillance communication channel. _Keep an eye on Adam. He's coming to do what we didn't._

An hour later, the reply:

 _I don't get laid enough to deal with this crap. Fine. But only because I like you._

 _It's because you're afraid of me._

No response.

* * *

Nora and Jaune exited the vault, with Jaune holding Zwei. Training was successful, though there was still much more to learn. While Jaune had a year to get a handle on being a leader, it often reverted to using pre-existing talents and optimizing them. Now he was bringing out a talent. He and Nora were to this dog as Pyrrha was to her. Speaking of Pyrrha….

"So… um… Pyrrha started the 'controlling aura' part of the training with, 'do you have any familial memories that resonate deep within you?'"

"Really?" Nora groaned, "that's NOT what I meant!"

"I had a feeling you had something to do with it…."

"All she had to do was ask you a simple question! Not… merge it into her teaching repertoire! Uhg! It's not like she's trying to ask you out! She doesn't have to lace it into her mentor role like she does with all her other attempts at flirting!" Nora had an annoyed look in her eyes. "She's more awkward than you… sheesh."

Jaune stopped walking and gave Nora a dirty look. Nora's eyes expanded.

"Uh…."

Jaune laughed, "Nora, it's fine. I know I'm socially awkward, Ruby and Weiss have made that abundantly clear to me."

"Well….. you're not THAT bad." Nora looked down a bit, then looked at the ceiling, "you're not a Casanova… but then again, Casanovas are so charming it's hard to see the real person in them… but I can see the real you when you talk to me, and so can Pyrrha. You're awkward yes, but that doesn't make you not charming… in your own way." Nora added that last part hurriedly. "Pyrrha is…. Just so… stiff. I feel bad for her sometimes. All that fame and adoration, yet no one to talk to or call a friend. It reminds me of those days at the orphanage when Ren wasn't there. It was like… being lonely in a crowded place." Nora shivered. "I would've gone mad and smashed the building to smithereens if it weren't for Ren to keep me sane. As for Pyrrha…." Nora scratched her chin, "…I guess she was set on simply being a champion and not a person… until she met someone who didn't look at her like that."

"Uh…. Nora?"

"What?" Nora shrugged her shoulders, "I may play dumb and get Haven and Shade mixed up all the time, but I get people! And smashing! And smashing people together! I could become a doctor-"

"No, I knew that…" Jaune interrupted "just… uh… I just realized I never asked about your childhood… All I know is that you and Ren were orphans…. And that you went through a hairstyling phase."

"Oh." Nora went quiet, and her expressive face dulled to a glazed look: Only their footsteps and the dog's soft snoring in Jaune's arms providing a peaceful melody.

Nora breathed in, "all the parts with Ren I enjoyed. But as I said earlier, sometimes Ren would shut me out." She shrugged, her smiling not returning to her face. "I don't wish to dwell on negatives. There are enough positives in my life to ignore the parts that hurt me."

"Oh. Sorry I brought it up." Jaune had seen Nora's whole spectrum of emotions recently, but this was a first. Withdrawn. No emotion or spark, just sullen blankness.

"It's okay. I lo-like that you care." Nora started looking at the floor.

Jaune sighed. "Well, I'm glad you can move past the bad things in your life. I wish I could do the same."

"What do you mean?" Nora piped up, then immediately shrunk back, "if you don't mind me asking."

"Nothing too awful. Just some bullies in school. Mean pranks. Just… I was never the popular kid. A joke, really. My sisters, all beautiful, never really had problems except for the occasional catty early-teen girl drama. They doted on me at home, but… well, they never understood my plight. My parents never even taught me basic self-defense against the more physical bullies, they just told me to "talk it out," and left it at that. For parents so over-protective, they certainly were negligent in the risks of the schoolyard. The only actual sympathy I got was from…. Er…"

"Neo- I mean Poli?"

"Yeah." Jaune remembered the many times the ne'er do ell sibling of his would give him a pep talk, though they were always short, and at times would go to the playground herself, and look down on the few people who were shorter than her. As he grew older, Poli would outright beat the crap out of anyone who dared tease him…. He didn't make many friends that way, but he was left in peace. It was better than the alternative. No one ever liked being beat up by a tiny girl who looked like she still belonged in Junior High. Those Gymnastics classes… maybe he should've taken those.

"So… what you're saying is we both had unpleasant childhoods?"

"I'm saying no one has pleasant childhoods. Ruby and Yang lost their mother. Weiss's father is an asshole. Blake…" Jaune let out a shudder, "I can tell just by looking at her she's had it rough." Nora nodded. "I bet if I started prying into Cardin he'd find something to be 'mentally scarred' by. Powerful and steady people like Coco and Yatsu probably could be toppled down just by a single memory." Jaune sighed, "I guess none of us grow up unscarred. Mistakes we've made. Mistakes done unto us. We all have something that… well… destroys us, even if it shouldn't." Jaune turned to Nora, "and I guess I find it great that you know that those moments… aren't important to dwell on."

Jaune and Nora walked on in silence towards their dorms.

"Will all our post-training discussions be that depressing?" Nora asked.

"It is dark out," Jaune yawned, "and I generally brood when it's dark out."

"Same thing with Ren… he went through a poetry phase. Always wrote at night."

"Oh really? He hasn't told me about that."

"He sucks at words, how do you think his poetry goes?"

"….it's bad, isn't it."

"Even I can't like it."

"Oh Oum that's bad." Jaune started laughing.

"One of them compared the blackness of his soul to the blackness of his hair… It was at that moment he needed to cheer the flipper up and I put that pink streak in his hair!"

"So THAT'S why you played hairdresser?"

"I wasn't playing hairdresser, I was playing 'Soul Healer,' now his soul has a pink streak in it too!"

Jaune laughed, "that's not how it works…"

"It's poetry! It never works! It just sounds and looks nice enough that you can assume a meaning in it!"

"I don't know, I like some poetry!"

"Please tell me you never wrote any poetry!"

"Oh, I didn't, unlike Ren, I knew I would suck at it."

They giggled softly into the night, until they reached their dorm, returned Zwei, and went to sleep.

* * *

The night was crisp, the air was cold, and the tent flapped defiantly, as if refusing to kneel before nature. Adam brooded within, his mind too active to even think of sleeping, since thinking of sleeping would add in one more thing he was thinking about.

He was headed to Vale. To Beacon. He was going to kill two vainglorious huntsmen. How delightful. Yet, there was Blake. He would have to meet with Blake. He had to. He was going to win her back or…. Didn't he just go over this two days ago? And yesterday? And every day ever since Blake ran away? He lost count. No matter! Now it was less about thinking, and more about doing, which Adam could get behind. After he got behind Blake _ooooohhhhh!_

He raised his hand, only to realize he was alone in his tent. He gave himself a high five with his other hand. Damn… this was pathetic. No! It wasn't! Being emotional wasn't pathetic, nor unmanly, it was… deep. He was deep and dark and feared. He was Adam Taurus: leader of the White Fang.

And when he was done brooding, the world would know what he can do.

Until then, he had to move his troops. While they were in the kingdom of Vale, they weren't really 'near' the CITY of Vale. And with his men, travel would take time. But Adam was patient. Adam knew that a victory is best when earned over time.

* * *

 _Time passed. Jaune and Nora got into their schedule of training Zwei every other night together in the underground vault. Pyrrha still tried her best to be confident with Jaune, but wasn't the best at following Nora's well-meaning, but unhealthily given advice. Things happened predictably, Pyrrha and Ren dropped the unanswered questions of Mulan… for the time being. They had school to focus on. However, those questions never left Pyrrha and Ren's mind._

 _Team RWBY never noticed Zwei's occasional disappearance, though Blake would occasionally be awoken by a 'Zwoop,' still Blake is so apathetic towards the dog that she would never notice under any circumstances._

 _Team CFVY is still absent from classes._

 _And Glynda is still on the cover of the clandestine magazine, MILF monthly. Just thought I'd share that._

Ozpin took a sip of coffee. _While I'm sure you would love to see the characters interact and grow without time skips…. Unfortunately, like in real life, there are points where nothing really important happens. And writers can't think of interesting things to fit into a massive time-frame sometimes, so time skips make things so easy and nice, so we can get to the meat of the story._

 _Because, let's be honest, everyone wants to skip the salad to get to that good steak. That's what happened. Salad. Probably nutritious and with proper skill entirely enjoyable… but Steak will always be better than Salad…_ Ozpin smiled, _and that just alienated all of the vegetarian readers out there! That's what you get for putting words in my mouth Kirjoitabls!_

Ozpin turned in his chair to watch over Beacon. "I just hope there isn't any graphic violence or nudity. I prefer to keep things rated T." He said aloud.

"Who are you talking to? Also, have you seen my crop? It's been gone for three weeks and I'm kind of freaking out!"

"Nope, haven't seen it." Ozpin winked. _I have._

* * *

 **A/N: Sincere apologies for not only taking so long, but also not making this CHAPTER long…. Also, it's pretty filler. Yeah… I'm not too happy with it. Hopefully there is enough character development and jokes in here to justify this chapter's existence.**

 **So yeah, Time Skip! Just so we can get to the Steak and pass over the bland Salad. Look forward to: Pyrrha attempting to flirt! A Nora musical number! Jaune's semblance! The first scene of serious romantic tension between the two leads! And of course, ADAM! The Edgelord will enter the fray, but how? Tune in to the next couple of chapters to find out!**

 **Oh yeah, Zwei also does a thing.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Take three weeks off like a chump!**


	13. Bad Bark, Worse Bite

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

 **'** Ninjas of Love III: Ass-ass-ination' was a very difficult book to find. It wasn't necessarily 'banned' per say, but it was controversial. It was the first book of its kind to contain 'intimate' relations between a faunus and a human. It contained many kinky moments that pushed the bar of standard taste. Its plot, as Blake was discovering, was an intriguing tale of Ninja clans warring that was too close to home to recent political scandals, financial and sexual. Thus, many bookstores didn't sell it out of protest for its 'poor taste' and uncomfortable subject matter.

Yet here she had a copy, along with a copy of a new series she hadn't even heard of, "The Horn and the Herald." The Horn's purpose as a symbolic euphemism was clear by the cover art showcasing the massive, phallic instrument suggestively held in the hands of a beautiful, wide eyed and wide mouthed woman that Blake assumed as a Herald. Subtlety was hopefully better performed within the pages.

"Where did you get these?" Blake asked Jaune. How Jaune knew for her taste in mature romance novels was beside the point, she must learn where someone as hapless as Jaune Arc discovered such promising literature! Clearly there wasn't some kind of section she missed in the school library? A book store she hadn't discovered?

"Let's just say I have a good source, now remember the deal."

"Yep, I don't tell anyone about you taking the dog at night while we're sleeping." It took three weeks, but Blake eventually figured out what was causing the 'zwoop,' that occasionally woke her up…. Well, she didn't know what it was exactly, but she eventually stayed awake, her night vision scanning the room, until Zwei somehow popped back into the room.

Blake, assuming that it was a nefarious plot to add even more corgis into her life (because she didn't even notice Zwei was missing she tried to ignore that dog so much) she stealthily opened the door finding Jaune and Nora… just standing there. Their eyes widened in shock as they sort of just stared at her. Jaune's eyes seemed to look her up and down…. Oh yeah, the yukata…. Also Nora seemed to look her up and down.

 _"Hey Blakey!" Nora said, "looking great! Sexy pajamas, I'm jealous! So… nothing just happened, right?"_

It was a weird situation, but thankfully, Blake just had to raise an eyebrow for Nora to spill the beans that they were doing something with Zwei. Though that something wasn't elaborated upon, she couldn't care less.

However, Yang COULD care less, a whole lot less, if she knew about it. And as her partner, Blake informed them that she should tell Yang that they were sneaking Zwei out of there room while they all sleep to 'do something.' Nora immediately jumped into attempts to bribe her, with massages, pancakes, and…. a free haircut? She listed so many things Blake forgot what Nora did and didn't offer.

However, Jaune stopped the bombastic maniac and made an offer: an offer to supply her with some of the rarest romance novels in Remnant. And not just any romance novels, ones with smut! Blake loved romance, but found romance stories without sex to be just unrealistic. However, finding some well written ones with good stories along with natural sounding sex scenes with real emotion behind them were rare, most of them being pandering trash just to get to the kinky stuff without any substance to uphold it.

Apparently, Jaune had inexplicably found some outlet to get the good stuff. The Ninjas of Love series was always a good bet, but this Herald book, gaudy cover aside, seemed promising. And he said there was more where that came from.

And all just so that Zwei can occasionally leave the room while she sleeps? Consider herself bribed! As long as they didn't harm the dog there was no reason for Yang to get mad. Her partner had a reasonable motive to be protective of the literal son of a bitch, but she needn't worry herself with…. whatever Jaune and Nora were doing.

"So…. Whenever I finish a book, you'll get me a new one?"

"Correct," Jaune nodded.

"How are you sure you won't run out?"

"My source keeps it well stocked."

"Very well," that was enough affirmation for Blake. She couldn't imagine Jaune as a liar.

After receiving her package, Blake decided to leave Beacon after classes. It was Friday, a day where she could just go into town, find a nice, quaint book store, find an alcove, and read in privacy. The room was nice, and allowed her to get… heated… at times, she was still vulnerable to Yang, Ruby, and Weiss barging in. And then there was Zwei. It's hard to get invested when THAT stupid thing is staring at you.

Tukson's book trade had a faunus owner, but she recalled Tukson working for the White Fang. She wouldn't go there in fear of being found. So she just went to Chapter 13, a quaint, small bookstore with a 'bad luck' motif and a reclusive reading room to give her a quiet environment.

As she entered the bookstore, she walked underneath a ladder, and the cashier was standing in front of a purposely fragmented mirror. Apparently the owner of this place also has a black cat that wanders around the store. Blake had to admit, it's charming when a store commits to a theme.

Blake walked underneath another ladder to go to the reading room. She sat down in the plush chair, and opened up Ninjas of Love III. It started off where Stealthy Seduction left off, and she found herself absorbed once more in the fictional world she loved.

She sat there as time sped up around her. Seconds, minutes, and hours blurred together as she followed every word into every sentence into every paragraph. The masterful prose of the writer that cannot be replicated by some fan-fiction hobbyist truly allowed a smile to grace her lips. When she got to the steamier parts, she looked around to make sure she was alone, because she wanted to blush without shame. These words will linger in her head the next time she takes a shower…

"Is anyone sitting here?" _Damn it, I was…. wait…._

She knew that voice.

She looked up to see a scarred face looking at her. He wore a smile she knew all too well, and a well-toned and handsome built man had the poise and posture of a confident and charming individual, while still having an alluring danger to him.

"I prefer it wasn't you." Blake hissed.

"Don't continue hurting me, my love." The bull faunus sat down anyway, still wearing that admittedly charming yet dangerous smile, "or else my associate might have to hurt someone else to ease my pain." He pointed at another faunus, perusing the shelves, but when Blake looked closely, he had a gun. "There are a lot of humans without aura in this store… wouldn't it be glorious…."

"Adam." Blake remembered when that name made her feel warm and welcomed, now it felt cold, "what are you doing here?"

"I have business in Vale… I thought I should look for you… I had a feeling I'd find you in a book shop where the mascot was a black cat, this place is your style."

"Adam, enough with the sweet talk…. What do you want?"

"You." Adam stated simply, "you are the moon that rises to my setting sun, together, we can bring what we always wanted for our people…. Please, Blake, complete my sky. Return to the White Fang, where we can look over a better world!"

"Adam, I'm done with it, and you can't make me come back…." Blake stood up to leave.

"Oh… I can…." Adam stood, "…and if you resist me further… well, you'll see what's going to happen."

Blake left without saying a word, walking fast as she could. She went into an alleyway, and broke down. Breathing in and out hard, she had to face it. Adam was back.

And he still used those cheesy pick-up lines that he read from her books.

* * *

"So… uh… Jaune. Do… you…. like food?"

"… Three weeks we started," Nora stated, exasperated, "three weeks. I gave you advice. Ren gave you advice." _Hell, I'm pretty sure Jaune sneakily gave advice._ "And that's the best you got?"

"It may be because it's hard to take me seriously in a blonde wig," Ren replied, sitting across from Pyrrha, wearing a shaggy blonde wig Nora bought off the internet.

Nora was desperate. If she could get Jaune and Pyrrha together, then she could finally put these newfound feelings towards her leader to rest. They could just be partners in crime, working together as friends.

But if Jaune remained single, there was always the lingering idea for HER to make a move, and she just couldn't do that to Pyrrha. Heck, she couldn't do that to Jaune! There's probably a reason that those placed in the middle of a love triangle constantly whines and suffers, unless if he or she doesn't believe in monogamy. It's annoying, you have to hurt SOMEONE, and Jaune hated hurting people, even people who hurt him like Cardin and Weiss. That was one of the things that was so great about…. _Dammit._

"Look, I appreciate it, but I can't help it!" Pyrrha lamented, "whenever I try to say something 'normal,' I just…. Remember all those stiff stock phrases I was told to say in interviews! Ugh, I can't say anything genuine unless it's like mentoring or advice!"

"Weren't you good at talking to him during the Cardin incident?" Ren queried.

"That was further mentoring… if it feels like mentoring, I can do it… it's my element… but now, that he's doing so well it's… it's so hard just to talk to him for a casual conversation."

"I know!" Nora replied, boredom and frustration corrupting her words, "you've given me that excuse every session!" _No wonder Jaune doubts her feelings, her attachment is only expressed at a mentor/mentee relationship. I got to give Pyrrha something that will trigger her into…relating with Jaune, rather than plastering her desire for love on Jaune… but how?_

There were two things that could do this. One was for Pyrrha to experience defeat for the first time. Not just a 'close match,' a blowout, a loss that knocked her off her pedestal. Pyrrha, while she claims to be humble, would be so devastated, it would make good TV drama that would make Pyrrha grow as a person, as long as that defeat didn't kill her.

Another was a musical number. Why Nora thought that could help was even beyond her. She just wanted to do a musical number.

"Nora… I see that look in your eyes," Ren looked at his friend and partner concerned, "whatever it is you think of doing, don't…

"NONSENSE! Backup dancers! A Cappella Club!" And army of first years and the relatively unknown A Capella club appeared out of nowhere on Nora's command.

"…wow, you've planned this far ahead." Ren sighed, then turned to Pyrrha, "sorry, but I'm not going to be able to stop this."

"Stop what?"

Nora stood at attention, whipped out Glynda's crop, pointing straight at Pyrrha. The A Capella group started 'booping' some tune, and the backup dancers got into a 'ready' stance, their heads facing the floor.

 _Let's get down to business!_

 _To seduce, the Jaune! (_ Pyrrha: "Huh?" _)_

 _Are you a mere girlie?_

 _Or a great champion?_

 _You've been trying this thing out for weeks_

 _Yet you still don't have a clue_

 _Somehow I'll_

 _Make a Babe_

 _Out of You…._

(Ren: "Isn't a 'babe' a young sheep?)

 _Sexy and mysterious_

 _Yet with a, kind heart_

 _Once you find that balance_

 _Romance surely starts!_

 _You're an awkward, stiff, and formal gal_

 _And you're not sure what to do_

 _But yet I'll_

 _Make a Babe_

 _Out of You_

Pyrrha: "When is this 'thing' gonna end?"

Ren: "Depends on Nora's current mood"

Random A Cappella guy: "Man this number is a blunder and will probs flop."

Librarian: "This girl's gone at it again!"

Backup Dancer: "I shouldn't have eaten so much food!" (*Groan*)

Glynda: "NORA, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH MY CROP?"

 _(Be a Babe)_

 _You must sultry like a pro-model_

 _(Be a Babe)_

 _With all the class of an Atlesian_

 _(Be a Babe)_

 _The essence of a perfume idol_

 _And powerful like a Super, Saiyaaaaaaannnn!_

 _Time is racing towards us!_

 _Till the dance, arrives!_

 _Finally take my advice_

 _And you'll feel, alive!_

 _It's you and Jaune_

 _Two become One_

 _And you can thank me when you're through_

" _Nora I_

 _Just got laid_

' _Cause of Youuuuuuu!"_

 _(Be a Babe)_

 _You must be sultry like-_ "AAHHGG"

The song was finished when Glynda wrested her crop from Nora's hands, and pushed the singing Valkyrie to the ground. _Oh come on, I was almost done!_ Nora lamented in her mind.

"Nora Valkyrie, how long have you been in possession of my crop?" Glynda asked, her green eyes boring into Nora's.

"Uh…." Nora nervously began.

"Approximately two and a half weeks, at least that's the earliest I saw it in her possession." Replied Ren.

"Traitor!" Nora cried.

"Nora Valkyrie… do you know how serious it is to steal a hunstman's weapon?"

"….since you predominately just wave it around in gestures while predominantly using your semblance… isn't your crop mostly for show?"

Glynda remained quiet for a good five minutes. The library finally got the silence that was advertised with the 'quiet please' sign.

"Detention. Tonight, and many other nights to come. In the arena classroom. I'll be presiding." Glynda left the library, with a small blush on her face.

Ren looked at the leaving Glynda, then back to Pyrrha, then back to Nora, still lying on the ground. "You know, I'll be honest, I never thought that Glynda's weapon is just for show…"

"I'm sure it's more than that," Pyrrha added, "maybe."

"So!" Nora stood up, "did that help you out at all?"

Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at Nora, "how was that supposed to help?"

"Motivation? Increase in morale? The power of a montage?"

"…I'm just embarrassed now that practically everyone in school knows my crush…" Pyrrha motioned to her dancers and the backup singers.

"Oh, we already knew," said one of the singers.

"Yeah, it's… kinda obvious," said one of the dancers.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Jaune already knows, whether by simply paying attention, or someone else blabbing it to him." said the librarian.

Pyrrha blushed and shrunk down into her chair. It was almost adorable seeing the ever-confident Pyrrha falter in the self-assurance department.

"Don't worry! You're secret is safe with us…. And the entire school…." Nora mumbled that second bit, "look! Everyone is just tired of watching your will-they/won't-they play out. It's how I got them to help me on this musical number."

"You said there'd be pancakes."

"….oh yeah. That too. Ren, make them some pancakes."

Ren sighed, "as if I have a choice," he left the library as the cavalcade of Nora's henchmen followed him.

Nora gave one last look at Pyrrha, "whenever you feel uncertain, just hum that song to yourself, relax, and don't think of it as a battle. Don't think that you need to execute it perfectly. Perfection is for immortals and fairy tale heroines. Just… stop trying to do well and JUST DO IT!" Nora then crouched down, "MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!"

Pyrrha leaned back away from the shouting Nora, and Nora felt satisfied. If she was ever going to get to the point, it'd be a musical number and an internet meme… that's how she got things drilled into her head at least.

* * *

Jaune returned from his post-class jog. It helped to boost his endurance if his strength and speed were still not on par with Beacon's top students. He took a swig from his water bottle, and felt refreshed as he walked back towards his dorm… only to be met with a large crowd and the smell of pancakes.

"Um, excuse me," he said, pushing his way through the crowd, "leader of Team JNPR, this is JNPR's room, let me through." Despite some protest, Jaune's sweaty body was enough for people grant him passage. Jaune arrived to see Ren with his electric, portable griddle making pancakes. With the amount of batter to his side, he was certainly about to make a lot of them.

"Uh…. Do I want to know?" Jaune asked as Ren let out a grandiose sigh.

"You really need to just tell Pyrrha that you know, Jaune, this is getting ridiculous now that Nora's involved." Ren flipped some pancakes onto a platter: stacks of golden breakfast goodness steamed and demanded to be eaten. "Do me a favor and hand this to the crowd… let them decide but let them know that there will be more."

"Wait, Jaune knows?... Oooh Pancakes!" One of the members of the crowd exclaimed as Jaune sacrificed the platter to the mass amount of people clogging his team's door.

"What did Nora need with all these people?"

"To make a musical number as she sang one of her favorite songs… though of course with the lyrics changed to fit the situation."

"'Make a [Hunts]Man Out of You?'"

"That's the one."

"Dear Oum," Jaune breathed, "and I guess she offered pancakes…"

"She told me that I would have to do something after I 'scared her like that in Mulan.' I was hoping that just meant wearing a blonde wig…. But I guess this is it."

Jaune looked at the mass of people forming a mosh-pit over the pancakes. "Yeah…"

"She still hasn't told me how she and Glynda took down the Slaggeater… nor have you told me why you brought a dog when you tracked me on my scroll."

"I told you, just in case you lost your scroll and I had to search for you with a more archaic means."

"Still doesn't explain how you got there that fast."

"Through the power of Nora."

"Only Nora can use that excuse."

Jaune groaned, "look, it was a weird night, okay, some guy gave us some comet transport, I thought it was Professor Port, but maybe I was just panicking heavily so I didn't pay too much attention to his physical features."

Ren shrugged, "still, you have to admit my skepticism for 'comet transport' semblance is a bit… odd, and unbelievable, wouldn't you say?"

"Would you believe that we got there through the power of a mystical creature?"

"Jaune, don't make up something more outlandish just to make your story seem plausible."

Jaune couldn't help but laugh to himself. _Keeping Zwei a secret is turning out to be easier than I thought._ All he had to do was word the truth to make it seem stupid, and bribe Blake with smut. Why was he so worried about it in the first place?

"STOP LOITERING IN THE HALLS!" The mass at their door dissipated like sugar in hot coffee. Glynda, her crop inexplicably back in her hand, granted a glare that represented the very concept of fear itself. _Oh yeah, because it was Glynda who ordered me… and she worries me._

"….hi Glynda?" Jaune started meekly.

"Were you aware that something was stolen from me, Jaune?"

"What?" Jaune felt sweat fall down his neck, "of course not? What… what was stolen, may I ask?"

"Only my most important possession…."

 _Why the hell are you being so vague?_ "Heh, heh, well if I find anything that belongs to you…."

"Were you aware that Nora had my crop for three weeks?" Jaune's brain froze, and then relaxed. _Thank Oum she's not talking about me. Hopefully she doesn't get in the mood to read the third 'Ninjas of Love' book._

"Actually, I wasn't… I would've told her to return it if I did."

"Good. Ren, why didn't you?"

"I told her to return it…. But she doesn't listen to me all the time."

Glynda sighed, "carry on…. But I must inform you that pancakes are not a healthy substitute for a Friday afternoon snack, may I suggest a salad?"

Jaune released a breath he didn't know he was holding, Ren just laughed.

"What's funny?" Jaune asked in an accusing tone.

"What did you steal from Glynda, Jaune?" Ren raised an eyebrow.

"… I may have used…. Something from her office to help out a friend."

"Hm…." Ren shrugged, "hopefully she won't realize its missing."

 _Hopefully._

* * *

Pyrrha sat on the roof, overlooking the setting sun. In an hour and a half, Jaune and her will have yet another practice session. Once again she'll excel in improving his combat. He's been growing a lot. His stance is sturdy, his slashes and pokes are precise, and his shield work is nigh impossible to penetrate without cheating a bit with her polarity. He still had much further to go to get on her level, but maybe with a little more time he can reach the level of someone like Ren.

Yet the more he improved… eventually she will not be needed anymore, at least not needed in the way she was used to. She'd just be his partner, which was fine, she should be okay with that… but….

Was it selfish of her to want more? Of course not, apparently everyone in the school was waiting for her to get on with it. Though aren't boys supposed to make the first move? Then again Nora kept saying that that doesn't have to always be the case.

She sighed as she surveyed the Beacon campus, the beautiful architecture glowing in the orange rays of the sunset. Flowers and shrubbery neatly lined the grassy knolls that grafted color to the standard grey of concrete in the courtyard. Windows reflected light, and those that didn't showed empty classrooms and glimpses into some team rooms. Thankfully, none of them were doing anything too private in front of an open window. Pyrrha sighed, the fear writhing in her gut that was once so unfamiliar was now an ubiquitous part of her routine. Why did Jaune have to make her feel this way?

She heard the soft pats of careful footsteps. Those were not Jaune's, his was rather clunky and the weight placed on them were forceful. These were the footsteps of someone who was used to hiding, someone who never wanted to make a sound.

She turned around to see Blake meekly walking onto the roof, her head held down and her hands wrapped around her weapon. She walked by, not even acknowledging her, and sitting down along the edge, her eyes downcast, yet gripping Gambol Shroud with enough force her hands were ghastly pale and shaking.

Of the members of Team RWBY, Blake was the most withdrawn. She never really interacted with anyone outside of her team, and only interacted with JNPR when RWBY was somehow involved. She respected it, Ren was the same way, and so was Pyrrha herself.

Yet there was something that made the champion want to approach the closet faunus. She looked afraid, and of all the people she knew at Beacon, Blake seemed like the least to wear her feelings on her sleeve. It was almost as obvious as Jaune's insecurities…. Except on Blake.

Pyrrha stood up, and walked over to her, then stopped. _Maybe I shouldn't pry… this is probably best a RWBY affair…._

"He's back," Blake audibly muttered. _Or… maybe she just wants to talk about it and doesn't care who it is?_

"Who's back?" Pyrrha asked. She knew next to nothing about Blake's past, other than she was a faunus, and all that could be gathered from that lone fact. 'He' could be an underground faunus labor trafficker, or her father, or maybe an overly violent ex-boyfriend.

"Someone I hoped not to see any time soon." Blake groaned, "…and he's coming for me."

"Well, nothing you can't handle, right?" Pyrrha said, hoping it would help her.

"Do you think Jaune could best you, if you tried to kill him?"

Pyrrha was about to remark how little sense that made, until she understood. Mentor. A former mentor of hers… who… wanted to kill her? What did she do?

"Anything…. I can do to help?" Pyrrha meekly asked.

"No… this is something I need to do on my own."

"I used to think that," a voice from out of nowhere, a male, beautiful voice that made Pyrrha's heart both jump and flutter. "But Pyrrha proved me wrong…. And Cardin, in a way." Jaune's goofy smile was as fantastic to look at as usual. "I mean…. We don't have to get involved, it's none of our business… but at least reach out to your team."

"I've already dragged them into enough…. I've done more harm than good for them, it's best I just face the sins of my past." Blake's depressed monotone sounded more defeated than usual.

Jaune looked at his scroll, "look, Blake, what would Master Itoiyama do?"

"Do it Doggy Style with a Dog Faunus."

"Uh…. No." Jaune lightly blushed as Pyrrha felt her imagination give Jaune dog ears. "Outside of…. That."

"He would…. Ohhh," Blake's eyes widened slightly, as she stood up. "Thank you Jaune, I'll talk to Yang." She left the roof.

"Uh…." Pyrrha pointed to where Blake was sitting, "what was that?"

"Mentioned one of the protagonists from her favorite book series… I have no idea what kind of advice I gave her… but hopefully it's good."

Pyrrha nodded, "so… do you want to get started on training early?"

"Actually… er…" Jaune scratched the back of his neck, a sign of uneasiness Pyrrha could read from a mile away "I… came up here…to… uh…. Talk to you…. about…. Something."

"Oh…. Uh…" _Talk to me about 'something?' What something? Nope, don't get your hopes up… it's probably a homework assignment, that kind of something._ "Sure Jaune, you can always come to me for help…"

"Well, it's not 'help' in the traditional sense," Jaune's turn of phrase continued to betray a nervousness. Why would Jaune be nervous? _Maybe? MAYBE!_ Pyrrha's heart thrashed like a battering ram onto her ribs. She tried to keep that graceful poise she valued in herself, but she felt herself twitching like Nora after fifty pancakes.

"Um… well…. what is it?" Pyrrha found herself stammering, her speech literally lined with ellipses.

"Um… I guess… well, it's time that… I told you…." _Is this it? Is this it? IS THIS IT?_

Jaune's scroll rung. "Sorry, eheh," Jaune apologized, "I'll ignore and turn it off….Cardin?"

"Oh, it's probably just a butt dial."

"He does have a big rear…" Jaune mused, and Pyrrha bashfully giggled. "Still, it's… odd…." Jaune answered it, much to Pyrrha's annoyance.

"Jaune! Who the hell did you piss off? OW!"

"Huh?" Jaune was visibly confused, as was Pyrrha. "Where are you?"

"My team and I were enjoying some time in Vale until these assholes, OW! Asked me if I knew about you and your team… I said 'no,' then Russel said 'yes,' and Dove and Sky said 'maybe.' So… they took my scroll and saw YOU were in my contacts from that… time first year."

"Where are you?"

"We're, OWW! What, you want to talk! Fine, just stop hitting OW! Me."

A voice Jaune never heard before came out of the scroll.

"Hello, Jaune right? You and your little female friend have pissed off the wrong people, it seems. I don't know how, but here's the deal, I have this pathetic excuse for a Huntsman team and the edge of my badass sword, and I want you to know, if you and Nora Valkyrie don't show up at this address I'll text you… well… the next text I send will be of their decapitated heads."

"WHAAAAT?" could be heard faintly in the background.

"You fuckfaces aren't using them much anyway," the voice responded to the background. "Anyway, since I'm so considerate, I'll take into account the bullhead to town schedule, time to arrive, and add a couple minutes for you to get your girlfriend and add even more minutes to account for inevitable complications. Like… ah, 55 minutes. You have 55 minutes for you and Nora to arrive to the address I'll send you. Also, NO PETS ALLOWED. I see anything that looks like a pet, these kids die. Also, if you bring that busty championess of yours, or that green emo-looking guy, they die. Just you and the pink weirdo chick."

The scroll was hung up, with an instantaneous blip, which Pyrrha assumed was a message from 'Cardin.'

"Fuck… well, I'm going to get Ren and Nora."

"Don't think for a second I'm not coming," Pyrrha followed Jaune as he exited the roof back into the halls of Beacon.

"I know, but you and Ren will have to keep a FAR distance from the address until the hostages are secure, got it!"

"Understood," Pyrrha then slowed down a bit, "what does he want with you and Nora? Who is he?"

"I don't know who he is…"

"…and did he call Nora your girlfriend?"

"Oh for the love of Monty!" Jaune pivoted quickly to face Pyrrha, "I know you think you love me, but did you seriously just dwell on that when HOSTAGES are involved?!"

"I'm sorry, but….. wait," Pyrrha's body froze over, "YOU KNEW?"

"Oum dammit," Jaune muttered, "did not mean to blurt that out. We'll talk about this afterwards." Jaune turned away from Pyrrha, as he called for Nora, telling her to bring Ren.

 _He…. he knew…._

* * *

Adam couldn't help but smile at his scheme. He had to admit, he got really lucky when four obvious huntsmen in training who were also utterly helpless against him just walked into the abandoned warehouse district. Their pockets contained some 'interesting' substances. Adam told his men not to imbibe in them… He'll save them for the victory party, or maybe slip them in the drink of a certain cat faunus…

Adam snickered to himself, he was about to perform his duty. Hunstmen were so easily manipulated, their drive to save others' lives make them forget their own. He would await the two's arrival, and swiftly and surely murder them with one precise strike of his sword. Easy kill, easy favor with the crazy bitch lady.

He awaited his victims, holding Wilt in Blush's sheath. He didn't even need to give them the respect of giving them eye contact. Agreed, he wouldn't even be able to due to the mask, but the idea of killing them without even gracing them with looking upon them was a fitting end to marked prey.

Then after that, he'd kill the huntsmen team anyway. They were filthy humans, and that Cardin character just reeked of racism. Today was going to be a good day.

It would have been better with Blake, however.

Finding her wasn't too difficult, but she wasn't the same Blake he recognized. She was distant to him. She seemed repulsed by him. Something must've changed Blake, but what? Who or what changed her so that she could ignore what her destiny was, to fight by his side, allowing for faunus-kind to rise to dominance.

Whoever or whatever it was, Adam hoped it could be fixed with a hit of… his…. Senses started acting up. A familiar scent. A familiar essence…. Blake, and… something else. Something foreign and… human.

Adam looked out the window to see a garish yellow motorcycle, with two figures wearing helmets approaching the warehouse district. _Blake…. Who is with you?_

Adam had enhanced senses, caused by his semblance. He could smell like a hound, see like an eagle, hear like a bat, feel like a hormonal teenage boy, and taste like the most snobbish of food critics. He was the most animalistic member of the White Fang, and he embraced it. He wished Blake did the same, but he was patient with her… even gave her that first bow…

Now here she was… clearly trying to find him again, but not alone. Not to talk it out. With backup. This… gaudily dressed blonde human SLUT. They looked close, almost as close as Blake and he were once….. almost.

Adam felt his heart beat, as his soul metaphorically shattered within him, and from the cracks of this breakage, leaked an unrestrained fury.

He quickly told his lieutenant to take care of Jaune and Nora, and abandoned his position as he flung himself at the two. The one he still loved… and the one who might have taken Blake away from him.

* * *

 **A/N: Still not the longest of chapters… but it feels dense to me. Starts off completely goofy, then ends on a note of murder, broken hearts, and… Bumblebee? At least that's what Adam is assuming….**

 **Also… with the town of Ren's origins being named Mulan, in honor of the character he's based off of, I decided to continue the Mulan references…. Hope you enjoyed that song, it took some effort to write.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Ride your Motorcycle into an Abandoned/Shady District, and Fight a Gang!**


	14. Beware of Faunus

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Master Itoiyama was a lecherous and prideful master of martial arts, and the leader of the rival clans of the main protagonist. However, despite his racist tendencies, he enjoyed a vice of having sex with the slave faunus in the local farms, often through verbal coercion. However, one of these slaves seduced her way into his bed, and then robbed him, threatening to reveal his perversion of having sexual relations with the lowly regarded faunus, thus ruining his reputation. In response, he got his most loyal student, and went to where the slaves were, and fucked things up.

It was a horrible, tragic scene that truly set up the Ninja master to be the gross and despicable villain, and gave Shikokoko Kokoyamiko the proper motivation to truly war with Itoiyama, as she had many friends with the slaves of the farmlands.

However, while she was always inspired by Shikokoko, though her name truly made it obvious that the author was making up words that _sounded_ like some archaic language from long ago, it was time for Blake to take a page from Master Itoiyama's book.

Get a trusted friend, find where her enemies who threaten to either expose her or make her life hell, and give them hell first.

He had no idea Jaune was so wise and well versed in the schemes and traits of the characters in Ninjas of Love. She would have to thank him deeply. After all, one good turn deserves another….

...Yang accelerated drastically as the light turned green, hitting Blake with the force of almost crashing through four walls.

"Well, thanks for not running away this time Blake… because it's never fun to CATch up!" Yang brought Blake back to her thoughts, cognizant of hugging deeply behind her partner as her motorcycle made its way to the abandoned warehouse district.

Blake tried to respond, but she couldn't even hear her own words under the roaring of…. Bumblebee's(?) motor. Besides, it's not like she had much to say other than…. "I hate those stupid and kind of offensive puns."

When they arrived, Yang parked her motorcycle next to the sidewalk. She flicked the kick stand and motioned Blake to get off. "Unless you wanna keep holding me a little while longer?"

Blake got off as quickly as she could. She had to deal with her ex-mentor and ex-lover possibly doing something really really bad, Yang's teasing could only be the poisoned frosting on an expired, dry, and moldy cake.

"We'll have to stick together, if we get separated, they could possibly pick us off."

"Blake, I understand you worked for these bozos, but c'mon, how bad can they-"

While Yang was cockily underestimating her opponents, Blake's hearing flared. There was a 'wooshing' of a man leaping into action, preparing a blade to descend upon its target.

Blake launched the ribbon portion of Gambol Shroud, wrapped it around Yang, and yang-ked her out of the way…. _Did I just… mentally make a pun?... Maybe I should've let Yang get hit, it's not like it's…_ Adam, landing where Yang was in a kneeling down pose, Wilt buried into the ground, and succeeded with a slow, dramatic rising to a stand. _Oh fuck, it is._

"So, this is who you left me for, my love? Some blonde… human girl? Is it the motorcycle? I promise! I'd look awesome, more awesome than her, on a motorcycle."

"Adam… please just…"

"Ooooh, somebody's jelly!" Yang blurted out, still wrapped around in Gambol Shroud's ribbon. "So THIS is that partner you told me about… y'know, for a murderous psychopath, he does seem pretty fine. Good catch, Blake!" Yang then got into a more serious face, "of course I'm assuming it was before all the murdery stuff he did, right?"

"Yes… it was before… what he is now…" Blake sighed.

"I'm right here you know, Blake. You can talk to me without humoring that human hussy…"

"And I'M right here!" Yang made motions like she was trying to point to herself, yet she was still wrapped around Gambol shroud, "hey, Blakey-poo, can you untangle me please, this isn't the best place to participate in bondage foreplay-"

Yang was going to say something else stupid, but Blake flung Yang again as Adam charged into her spot. Adam then followed it up with chasing Yang to her current location, so Blake flung her away from there. Eventually, Blake just swung Yang around in a circle as Adam, too hot-headed to think to go the other way, chased Yang fruitlessly like a dog chases the superior cat.

"You can't keep HER safe forever Blake!" Adam screamed as he ran around, crouched in an impression of a velociraptor.

"Woawoawoa!" Yang exclaimed, "Uhhhhg, so this is how Jaune feels…. *wretches*"

Blake, realizing she couldn't keep this up forever, used all her strength to release Yang from the ribbon: and fling her in the direction of a warehouse. She could make herself useful by taking down the men Adam inevitably had with him.

This was between him and her.

"It's me you want Adam." Blake readied Gambol Shroud, changing it to its blade form. "And I'm not going to run away."

"Really? That's all I wanted-oh…" Adam looked disappointed behind his mask, "so you want to fight."

"Either that, or leave." Blake's voice was heavy, letting those words drop down on the ground with a dramatic thud. She didn't want to do this, every time she looked at him she could remember what he was like BEFORE all of…. This. But it was too late for him.

"Why must you continue to hurt me Blake?" Adam pointed Wilt dramatically at her.

 _Why must you continue to hurt me?_

* * *

Nora was an empathic enough person to realize that she shouldn't be happy to attend a hostage negotiation, where apparently she was one of the deciding terms. She shouldn't be happy that if she messed up Team CRDL may end up decapitated. She also knew that this was going to inevitably have her beat the crap out of some faunus: while disillusioned and potentially murderous, they were still people who had some legitimate grievances.

However, she was happy because it meant she got to skip out on Glynda's DETENTION! She didn't tell Glynda, of course, that she was going to miss it, because she didn't have time! She had all the excuses in the book! _Glynda, I would've showed up, but it was a LITERAL life or death situation that had to be acted upon IMMEDIATELY!_

Team JNPR took a Bullhead to Downtown Vale, where Jaune laid down the plan. Nora and he were going to go to the address, weapons in tow but hidden under the over-sized trench coats that Nora bought for… reasons. If they search for their weapons they will let them confiscate them, in order not to cause chaos until Team CRDL got secured. In case things got south, Pyrrha would be a decent distance away aiming down the sights of her rifle, with Ren accompanying her. Despite Ren having no long range options (Stormflower had a bullet spread that was more conducive to fighting close-quarters or at max mid-range) he was there to dash to their location once Pyrrha confirmed that they should intervene. Ren was the fastest moving of the four, and the sooner he was informed, the sooner he could arrive, therefore he would stay by Pyrrha to avoid an overly complicated signal system.

Speaking of Pyrrha, she looked…. Grumpy? This wasn't the look of determination where her gaze steels into a blank but contemplative stare. Nor was it the look of cocky self-assurance before a competition that had those bedroom eyes and that almost evil-looking smile… that kind of reminded her of Neo, now that she dwelled on it. No, this was the look Pyrrha had when Jaune was preoccupied with Cardin.

Jaune, even in his lecturing state, seemed to avoid looking directly at Pyrrha. There was a tired awkwardness in his face, and every time he gave Pyrrha orders, it seemed, rushed.

Nora hated awkwardness and grumpiness, it were probably her two least favorite emotions outside of sadness. She had to fix this… and since she didn't have her backup dancers or singers, she couldn't do it in song.

"All righty team!" She said, placing as much chipperness as she could within her words. "We're gonna save CRDL, kick some baddie butt like we're RWBY, and look sooo awesome like Team CVFY! Who's with me!?"

"Why does he want you and Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, that grouchy glare directed at her now, while also gripping Magnhild like she wanted to hit something, possibly Nora specifically. _Yeesh! What did I do?... Was it the song? Wait…. Wait a minute! Song of encouragement? Did Pyrrha jump the gun and reveal her feelings, and Jaune (being Jaune) not know how to handle it? And now everything is awkward… and then this happened? Wooo-weee! Talk about juicy… and inappropriately timed!_

"Well! Uh…" Nora looked at Jaune, who seemed to be desperately checking his scroll, either to manage their time or to avoid unimportant confrontation. "… remember that bar fight we had with that cray-cray girl I told you about….. since Jaune and I wrecked her… maybe this is her brother?"

"A little extravagant for JUST THAT, wouldn't you say?" Why was Pyrrha getting all aggressive towards her?

"Some siblings are just really, REALLY defensive about their siblings. Like, Really REALLY defensive about their siblings. He must be one of those."

Pyrrha harrumphed.

"Also… can I have Magnhild back?"

"What?" Pyrrha looked down, and then fell on the bottom of the bullhead.

"You okay?" Jaune stopped looking at his scroll to help Pyrrha up.

"I'm fine." Pyrrha said sternly, standing up. "I'll _tell you_ when I need assistance."

 _Ooooh boy, this was NOT how I wanted to spend my break from detention._

Jaune sighed, and sat back. Then there was turbulence. Then, Jaune retreated from his seat to find a trash bin, added to the Beacon bullheads because after one year, they knew. It was actually quite thoughtful of the staff.

"I guess Jaune followed my advice," Ren stated in his reserved near-monotone, "but then this happened before he could explain his reasoning."

"YOU KNEW HE KNEW?" Pyrrha turned to Ren in a violent jerk of the head. She then turned to Nora, "DID YOU?"

Nora backed off, never seeing Pyrrha so… mad.

"I… shouldn't have said that aloud." Ren said incredibly softly.

"Uh-ha-ha, let's focus on the mission!" Nora pointed to the air, "I mean, lives are at stake right… let's not…. Get involved in teen drama while Team CRDL are in danger…"

That was the problem with people like Pyrrha; she always assumed she'd be victorious, so the gravity of the situation seemed like a temporary and inevitably fixed problem. To worry for Team CRDL was past her mind, because in her head, they were practically guaranteed rescue.

Which allowed her to dwell on admittedly trivial things like whatever was going on. Nora didn't have the full story, but she assumed it was something trivial, and assumed that was the reason Pyrrha was focused on assumedly trivial thing.

"Your right," Pyrrha sighed, leaning back into her seat, as Jaune guiltily wretched in the background.

* * *

Being a hostage sucked. Like, it sucked every kind of appendage. Not his appendages mind you, because that would be awesome.

But what wasn't awesome was being tied to a chair with chains tight across your chest, with your hands tied in some equally uncomfortable material. Thankfully, they didn't gag his mouth like they threatened to do after his call with Jaune. However, they did threaten to take off his head should Jaune fail to show up under the proper conditions spelled out to him by that Shadow the Hedge-Fund Manager looking faunus motherfucker.

All they were going to do was go to the abandoned warehouse district, smoke a little 'dust,' then probably crash in an alleyway somewhere half-naked sleeping all over each other, not remembering a thing but feeling the comfort of their familiar company, the smell of their breath and the touch of their skin. No homo, of course.

"So… uh…" Russel looked around, "do you know what time it is?"

"You mean how long until he cuts off our heads?..." Dove groaned.

"I'm too young to die!" Sky lamented, "I still need to finish writing my song!"

"You mean the one about your dental hygiene?" Russel raised an eyebrow, "c'mon, you gotta have something better than THAT, on your bucket list."

"Hey! My father's a dentist, and I need to make a catchy song for when he eventually makes an ad on TV. Then he'll feature me in it! Chip & Sky Lark: giving you shiny teeth!"

"You're training to be a huntsman, not a dentist advertiser," Dove groaned.

"I can have more than one dream you know!"

"SHUT UP" Cardin ordered, "we're going to be fine. Jaune and… uh…. Who's the girl on his team who isn't Pyrrha?"

"Nora," Russel looked up, as if fantasizing, "I love orange hair… and I can imagine she'd be freaky in the hay!"

"Russel, don't put your dick in crazy, okay?" Cardin sighed, "besides, the two girls on his team are head over heels about the blonde fellow."

"What, Nora's into Jaune too?" Russel looked oddly disappointed.

"Well, it's less obvious than Pyrrha," Cardin had a smile on his face, "but though I don't remember her name, you just need to LOOK at Team JNPR, and know that, if Jaune wanted it, he could be having a three-way every night. The green fellow looks like he could sleep in the forest on a lotus pose."

"That's awfully presumptive, Pyrrha to me seems like a monogamous lady." Dove added.

"Anyway, my point. Nora, is it? Well, she either vibrates and jigs even more, or self-consciously stops herself whenever Jaune is around. She looks at him, but not only in the eyes, her eyes wander, as if sizing him up. She seems to be hanging out with him more often this year, even less that the green-man."

"I believe his name is Lie Ren." Dove interrupted.

"Yeah yeah who cares about the other dude. But seriously, I have the eye…. I know when a man has the chance to get laid…"

"Then why do you strike out with every girl you talk to that you think you have a chance with?" Dove raised an eyebrow.

"I don't strike out! I just… impress them too much, so they automatically assume I'm out of there league!" Cardin reassured, mostly to himself.

"Well, then, good thing Jaune is there to catch them into the Jaune League!" Russel sneered.

"ARE WE SERIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT JAUNE'S LOVE-LIFE WHILE WE'RE HOSTAGES?" Sky exclaimed, his screams rife with fearful indignity.

"We have nothing better to do… these guards don't talk much." Russel observed.

"These humans are amusing." One of the guards audibly whispered to the other.

The second guard was much quieter with his words, but the two started laughing loudly.

"Hey, you animalistic- no… I mean. Hey, you persons of faunus genetics-wait… you have me hostage! Fuck being politically correct! Hey, you Discovery Channel Rejects, got something to share with us?"

The second faunus whispered to the first faunus's ears. The first faunus chuckled, "he said that you guys are so pathetic, it would almost be a mercy killing you guys."

"Awww…" Sky dipped his head in shame.

"Hey, fuck you guys! I mean, this is what you do with your life? I can imagine all the girls want to sleep with a terrorist!" Cardin drizzled sarcasm over every word, saturating his sentence with his hatred.

"Bitch," the second faunus spoke up, "we do things that would make your Discovery Channel blush. You haven't LIVED until you've had a 'tail-tickle' in some special places…"

"I don't even want to know…." Dove groaned.

"I kinda do." Russel mumbled.

Cardin only felt sick, the chains around his body seeming to constrict more tightly the more he thought about it. "I really… REALLY want to beat the shit out of you guys right now."

"Well, what about it? Maybe we could have a little fight?" Asked the first guard.

"Wait… really?" Cardin felt skeptical.

"Yes, you vs. me, you tied to a chair, me with this sword!" The guard reached into his scabbard and pulled out a sword.

Cardin groaned. _I really need to learn when to keep my mouth shut._

"I don't wanna die!" Sky Lark lamented, "I haven't even kissed a girl yet!"

 _So does my team._

"We know, Sky!" Russel complained, "you bring that up all the time, as if by simply saying it some girl will-"

 _CRASH!_

A yellow blur blasted through a barricaded window in a fiery explosion. The projectile lost altitude and landed directly on Sky Lark.

"-…I was going to say teleport in here and make out with you, but I guess crashing through the wall and landing directly on you works too." Russel's eyes widened in shock as Yang and Sky's lips (albeit accidentally) locked.

Yang pushed herself off Sky, whose chains now loosened at the destruction of his chair, and dizzily stood up. Sky eventually shuffled to a standing position; eyes glazed over in a pacified euphoria.

Yang looked angry, her eyes a red cesspool of condensed rage. "Okay, that was NOT cool! When I get back Blake, I swear I'll-… wait?" Her eyes returned to lilac, "…what are you bozos doing here?"

"Waiting for you…" Sky replied shakily, his voice undulating before he fell backwards.

"They were just about to die on behalf of the White Fang, miss, now unless…" the first guard didn't finish his threat, as he was punched through a wall.

The other guard pulled out his sword and dodged Yang's follow-up swing. He gracefully ducked underneath her third hook and slicked at Yang's knees, tripping her up. She landed on the ground hard, as Sky, having quickly regained consciousness, got back up and got into his fighting stance. His weapon was confiscated, obviously, but he knew a thing or two about standard weaponless combat…..but maybe ONLY a thing or two.

He leapt in with a kick, landing it on the guard's chest plate. The guard staggered back, but regained footing to line up for another swing. He slashed at Sky's arm, but through the power of aura, Sky blocked it, and followed it up with a raw punch to the face.

The first guard emerged from the small crater he cashed into, leaping in with a downward slash. Yang emerged from the ground and placed an explosive uppercut underneath the first guard's chin mid-flight. He was rocketed up into the ceiling, collided with the splintering rafters, and fell back to earth, ramming into the hard concrete.

"….ow…."

Sky looked up at the ceiling in awe, admiring the dent in the rafters, not noticing the second guard regained composure and caught him unawares, with a stab to his face, Sky covered his not-bleeding but stinging nose. The guard was about to press forward but he received a serving of Ember Celica to the face. He slid across the floor, eventually stopping by crashing into the far wall.

"Yeah!" Yang fist bumped the air, "anyone else in here?"

The door to the room they were in creaked open. "So they ran out of everything bagels, so I hope… that… sesame… is… HEY!" Before he drew his weapon a shot gun blast answered him, and as he rocketed away, Yang gracefully grabbed the box of bagels and looked inside. "No cream cheese? Lame!" She tossed the box over to Sky, who caught it and held onto it like it was a dear Teddy Bear.

"So… what are you guys doing here again?"

"We were caught! Okay!" Cardin annoyingly replied, embarrassment quite apparent.

"By those losers?" Yang gestured and the half-conscious, groaning guards.

"No!" Cardin defended himself, "by some brooding red-haired asshole and this chainsaw motherfucker."

"And they took down all four of you?"

"Yes, they did! Now can you please untie us… and Sky what the hell?"

The man had a bagel in his mouth, "wha?" He said, muffled under the fresh baked dough, "I luff bathegulfs!"

Yang sighed and went to their aide. "Oh, and… Sky, is it? Not bad, could've used more tongue though. Would've made it more fun."

* * *

"Yikes." Nora replied to Jaune. Yikes indeed.

Was it odd that he was more afraid of Pyrrha right now than he was of whoever was behind the hostage situation? Probably because Pyrrha could just wave her hand, rip off his armor, and then bring him to a world of pain. Or maybe keep the armor on, and shake him around like a life-sized ragdoll.

"I mean, you insulted her concerns about us…" Jaune could see a faint amount of blushing on Nora's cheeks, "…and then you reveal you've been actively avoiding her feelings for an undisclosed period of time… yeah… you're screwed."

"I know…. well, let's focus on this mission shall we."

"You got it!" Nora, appearing cheerful at the change of subject, "so, we aren't summoning Zwei?"

"If it's an emergency, I mean, you've already disregarded Glynda's detention, let's not give her more to be pissed about. Only if it seems it is the only way to save CRDL's, or our, lives."

"Makes sense." Nora nodded. "So…we go in there, present ourselves. We ask for Team CRDL to be let go. If they comply, do everything they tell us and wait until CRDL is safe and Pyrrha and Ren save us. If they don't comply we don't make sudden movements in order to avoid them prematurely dying."

Jaune nodded, "this is a delicate situation, and unfortunately, I didn't have much time to plan, we're going to have to rely on Pyrrha and Ren."

"We can count on them, Ren is always awesome and Pyrrha… well, she won't let anyone kill you until she can."

"Thanks…." Jaune sighed.

"You're welcome!" Nora's smile brightened up the darkling sky, as the sun grasped at the horizon, prolonging daytime by just a couple more minutes.

Jaune and Nora were at the building they were told to go. They could hear sword fighting and explosions off in the distance. "They must be training," Jaune thought aloud, with Nora nodding. They walked in the door, their trench-coats flapping in concordance with their motions.

Within the wide, open floor of the warehouse where a multitude of faunus warriors, wearing Grimm masks. _So this is the White Fang I keep hearing so much about._ Jaune mused, as he carefully and slowly walked before them all. "Okay!" He called out, "I'm here! What do you want?"

"I'll be honest, I have no idea." A gravelly, deep voice answered, with a reverberating harmony of the humming of a not-revving chainsaw. "But from what Adam said: your lives."

"You don't sound like the guy from the phone!" Jaune responded, his hand instinctively hovering over where Crocea Mors would be if it wasn't covered by the trench coat. "May I speak with him?" Nora stood by his side, oddly silent.

"Adam is busy with…." the man seemed to reach for the bridge of his nose, only for the hand to awkwardly bump into his Grimm mask. He repositioned his hand and placed it underneath, propping up the Grimm mask slightly, revealing gross scars on the exposed regions of his face. "He's busy with…. I don't even want to sugarcoat it. He's busy dealing with an ex-girlfriend of his."

"Really?" Nora exclaimed, "because we're dealing with romance issues too! You know, maybe instead of fighting, we could talk this out! Ask questions, give advice, maybe even sing a song! You know, just today, I sang a great song about-"

"Shut up you ginger munchkin," the man interrupted, "the only love I have is for slaughtering humans, and you will do nicely…." He revved his chainsaw.

Jaune felt his blood run cold. He already dealt with one angry lady, he didn't…

"What… did you…. just call me?" Nora stared deep into the man's covered eyes.

"A munchkin?"

"Ginger… You called me ginger…." Nora walked forward, each step pronouncing a currently restrained power, "and…" she pulled out Magnhild, gripping it with the clear desire to hit something. "….I'M ALLERGIC TO GINGER! RAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWRRRR!" She jumped up, and dove straight into the ranks of terrorists.

One time Nora ate some seasonal ginger pancakes, not knowing what they were. She had to go to the hospital for a couple days to recover from her reaction. That apparently wasn't the first time she was afflicted that way, as Ren later explained as Jaune and Pyrrha waited worriedly in the medical ward's waiting room. She really hated ginger, almost to a point she had a vendetta against the vegetable.

So every time someone unwittingly called her that…. Well…

"DON'T YOU EVEN COMPARE ME TO THAT DISGUSTING, SOUL-LESS, ROOT OF EVIL!" Nora was moving like a sporadic and small natural disaster, lurching in unpredictable, rough and janky movements that somehow consumed a big part of the room. Men were flying everywhere.

"Well… that wasn't part of the plan…" Jaune mumbled. Still, it seemed the troops were busy. Maybe he could find Team CRDL; secure their safety. He tried to slip by the kerfuffle Nora was creating unnoticed, to investigate the base and find where they could hide.

"Where do you think you're going?" The chainsaw wielder walked up to him, his chainsaw exuding a concerning amount of smoke from its exhausts.

"I'm only going to ask this once, where-woah!" Jaune brought up his shield against the descending wood-cutter.

"You don't even need to ask, my answer is, DIE!" He pressed harder against Jaune's shield, challenging Jaune's poise to give in.

He tried to hold on, but he felt his body slowly being pushed and his shield's durability being worn down. He brought up the sword and poked the faunus away. After his opponent stepped back to avoid the thrust, Jaune swung his shield like a left hook, which was caught by the faunus's hand. He then push kicked into Jaune's chest, knocking Jaune down to the floor, though thankfully he did not lose grip on his weapons.

"Hm, you're almost as bad as the hostages." He ran forward, readying a diagonal slash. Jaune, still on the floor, rose halfway and swiped his shield arm to cover himself from the blow. He then swiped his sword at the legs. The faunus skipped over his swipe, but that loosened the pressure of the chainsaw on his shield. Jaune took that time to fully rise, pushing open the faunus's guard, responding with a lunging thrust, which made contact.

The faunus jerked back, keeping his feet to remain standing. "Heh heh heh, maybe you won't be so anti-climactic a fight as I thought-" a grenade exploded from underneath his feet, launching him away from Jaune. "Uhhhg, my legs!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR CALLING ME GINGER YOU GRAVEL-VOICED FIEND!" Nora's yell overpowered the hordes of faunus that continued to assault her, though they were returned away from her equally quickly with a single swing of her mighty hammer.

"You keep fighting!" Jaune called over to Nora, "I'll look for Team CRDL!"

"Ooooh, I get the fun part! C'mon! Send your reinforcements! I won't only break your legs, I'LL BREAK YOUR SPIRIT! MWAHAHAHA!"

Jaune sometimes forgot how… scary Nora was in combat. "Keep… doing what you're doing…" he mumbled.

He walked around the warehouse, looking at all the closets that lined the perimeter. Occasionally a White Fang soldier, too scared to attempt subduing Nora, would try to stop his progress. Thankfully, those that were frightened were the weaker of the soldiers, so they took minimal effort for Jaune to subdue them.

He checked a multitude of doors, but couldn't find Team CRDL. Maybe they were in a different warehouse altogether? It would make sense if the goal was to simply lead them to a trap, they didn't need compensation; they just needed Nora and him to show up.

Which begged the question: _where are they?_

"Ouch! Jaune, a little assistance here?" Nora, despite playing the most vicious game of human golf, was slowly getting overwhelmed. Reinforcements were arriving, some even descending from the ceiling.

"I'm comi-oof!" Jaune felt something violently impact him, launching him across the room, into a door on the side, to the outside, and, after what felt like a long time flying through the air, into Blake.

* * *

Ren rushed to the warehouse as fast as he could. His legs carried themselves with grace and speed that rivaled a grand majority of the Beacon students and faculty; at least, rivaled whatever wasn't boosted by a relevant semblance…. Or in Oobleck's case, overdosing on caffeine.

Pyrrha's shots whizzed past his head, shooting down any white fang soldier exposed through the window. She was glad the champion's aim was not compromised by her emotions. Then again, maybe she was extra deadly BECAUSE of her emotions.

Pyrrha didn't say a single word as she and Ren awkwardly waited on the rooftop together, which was fine. Ren would want nothing more but to not talk about her and Jaune. To be honest, the subject annoyed him. Jaune couldn't shut up by how confused he was about Pyrrha's feelings, and wondering how he should react to them. He was tired of hearing Pyrrha's laments about not being able to capture Jaune's attention outside of their school-assigned partnership. As for his opinion on their relationship, Ren understood this: he cared about Jaune and Pyrrha, but had no interest in involving himself, or forming opinions, on their romantic endeavors.

Jaune had some decent points why they shouldn't be together, while Nora, his proxy for Pyrrha, had at least some reasonable desires that she held for Jaune that could lead to more. However, at the end of the day, all he wanted to do was offer muted advice, but not even form any opinion on the matter. That was for them.

Which is why he was so irked when Nora got even MORE involved. It put pressure on the relationship, and, naturally, would drag him into it.

He loved Nora, platonically, but damn she could drag him into some serious BS.

And apparently, drag him in deep enough that his entire run to the warehouse was filled with thoughts about Jaune and Pyrrha. _Dammit._ Still, it was pertinent at the time, once this is over, this silly drama would define the tone of the team for at least a week, and a week can last for an eternity when awkwardness saturates the air.

It was similar when he realized Nora was crushing on him, one year before they were to attend Beacon. Nora practically confessed it, but Ren played it off, to her, that he misunderstood what she said, allowing her an easy escape. She took it.

Ren truly cared for Nora, but didn't think he could ever think of her in a romantic sense. He still saw her as that weird but cheerful and amiable girl who walked up to him while he sat in the corner, drawing all by his lonesome.

 _"What'cha drawin' there? Oooh, is that an octopus?" The young Nora piped up, leaning in a little too close to his personal space._

 _"It's… it's a flower." Ren said simply. He shuffled away._

 _"Oh, duh! Of course, Octopuses don't have those… weird… antenna thing in the middle." Nora shuffled back._

 _"It's a stigma. And it's octopi." Ren shuffled further away._

 _"Are we playing a game?" Nora asked quizzically, "am I supposed to shuffle the same distance as you, and if I don't, I lose?"_

 _"No." Ren replied, wishing for it to end._

 _"Wait! Pffft! I know why, you don't know who I am, so I scare you! I'm Nora, and you are?"_

 _"Ren."_

"REEEENNNN A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Ren was released from the memory as he heard Nora crying for help. He dove in, slicing through hordes of White Fang soldiers. He cleared the way for Nora as she leaped in the air and relieved the crowding at her heals with a mighty hammer charged AOE attack.

"Thanks Renny, woo… hey have you seen-"

"WOOOHOOO!" A cheerful voice that wasn't Nora's filled the warehouse. "Even more asses to kick! I'm comin' in to WRECK YOUR BALLS!"

"I love that song!" Nora piped up, as Ren sighed.

Ren across the warehouse to see Yang punching through more White Fang soldiers, followed by Team CRDL with their weapons. Ren picked up his scroll, "hostages secure, Pyrrha, you may proceed."

"Understood." Ren quickly hung up before she could say something that would drag him into deep thought again. He needed to focus on the mission.

"Where's Jaune?" Ren asked.

"That's what I just asked, well, was about to ask…"

* * *

"Another blonde Blake? Is that what you want, me to dye my hair? Personally, I think you're beautiful the way you are, but if you don't think the same of me, I'm willing to make a change."

Blake groaned as a heavy weight seemed to press on her. She opened her eyes to see a familiar hoodie and body draped across her. "Jaune!" Blake sharply whispered, "what the hell are you doing here?"

"So this is Jaune!" Adam's eyes seemed to widen in the visor. "How convenient. I was tired of hurting my love anyway, time to do something I enjoy."

"Wha-" Blake heard Jaune mumble as he seemed to regain a sense of place. "Blake! What are you doing here?"

"Following your advice," Blake pushed Jaune off of her and stood up. "Look Adam, Jaune has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but Jaune has EVERYTHING to do with this." Adam smiled, "He's the reason I'm here in Vale, talking to you, trying to get you back…. I have to thank you Jaune, for giving me this chance."

Jaune grumbled as he slowly stood up. Blake looked at the admittedly unintimidating man. _Jaune is the reason Adam is here? How? Why? What's going on?_

"Look, Adam, is it?" Jaune challenged Blake's ex, "I don't care what you want with me, but leave Blake out of this."

"With pleasure!" Adam smiled as he dashed for Jaune. Jaune raised his shield, but Blake noticed that Adam was anticipating that… he wasn't going for the guarded vitals… he was going to cut off Jaune's arm.

Blake zoomed in and blocked the blade for Jaune. "What did I tell you, I'm not running!"

"You will… wait, you won't be able to." He violently kneed Blake in the gut, and in the same motion he pulled out Blush to shoot away Jaune, knocking him back and stopping a follow up attack. Blake winced in pain, stunned from the wind being knocked out of her. She suddenly felt a searing pain in her stomach, a stinging that originated from her gut and spread to all of her body. She looked down to see Wilt stabbing her through the abdomen. It didn't hit anything vital, but it was the most physical pain Blake ever felt.

Wilt withdrew, and Blake fell to the ground, clutching her wound. She looked around her and saw Jaune's sword and shield lying on the ground next to her. Jaune was unarmed.

"Will you come back with me Blake?" Adam stood up, looming over the sprawled and injured Blake.

"Please," was that a tear in his eye? "Say yes."

Blake felt some blood come up to her mouth. She spat it out. "No."

Adam sighed deeply, "then I must punish you for your betrayal." He lifted Wilt up near ceremoniously.

Blake looked away from it, but then noticed Jaune. He stood up, he saw what happening… and he was running towards them. _No! It'll kill you! Don't you know what his sword can do? Your large aura is worthless!_ He didn't have his shield with him, but Blake could see he was intending to block the blade with his body.

 _Another human dead by Adam's hand…. And caused by my own inability to fight…. Damn me. Damn me to Hell._

Pain still roaring in her brain, and frustration from being unable to move or even feasibly use her semblance, she just closed her eyes and hoped that Adam was fast enough that Jaune couldn't make it in time.

The moon overlooked the moment, as if shining down a visual requiem for her failed redemption.

Suddenly, even through her closed eyelids, a brightness enveloped her.

 _GONNNGGGGG_

* * *

 **You thought Zwei was going to get involved in here, didn't you? Well…. I thought about it, but I realized that… well… as funny as it would be for Zwei to be fighting off hordes of incredibly confused White Fang terrorists… well, I thought it'd be funnier for Nora to wreck face after being offended (in an odd way) by being called a 'Ginger.' Besides, putting Zwei in this fray seemed unnecessary, but he WILL be heavily involved in some battles to come.**

 **Nevertheless, this really wasn't a "funny" chapter. Got pretty dramatic there… but hey, that cliffhanger tho, right?**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Hit a Gong with All Your Might!**


	15. A Ruff Night

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

 _GONNNGGGGG_

Jaune had his shield arm extended, intercepting the slashing path of Wilt. However, it was his shield arm… not his actual shield. With no armor plating at the point of impact, Wilt should've torn through the cloth, his arm, and then stop at Jaune's chest plate, which would probably be sturdy enough to stop the blade.

Only, it didn't tear through his arm. It didn't even cut the cloth. Jaune's arm was coated with a white glow, that was brilliant but not blinding.

Adam looked Jaune dead in the eyes, not seeing any pain, or even any sign of effort. Adam's enhanced senses could feel that his biceps or triceps did not even contract to stop the blow.

It was just his arm, placed in front of the Blood Steel blade.

And the katana was stopped.

"What the f-" Adam didn't finish that phrase because he was busy being punched in the face.

* * *

 _From the Lab Journal of Atlesian Scientist and Assistant Headmaster of Atlas Academy: Dr. Pluto Glass PhD_

 _When I heard that Atlas Academy had acquisitioned a Blood Steel artifact from the capital museum, I thought they were going to give it to Dr. Polendina and his Robotic Huntsmen project. However, they decided to give it to me. I mean, I guess as the only Huntsman on the scientific team they WOULD give the lethal weapon to me, but…. Well… what am I supposed to do with it?_

 _Apparently, since I've already done a shit-ton of aura research for them, they wanted me to figure out how this stuff could ignore it, and possibly replicate it. Now I'm in the school of thought that this stuff was made from one person, who had some weird-ass semblance, but hey, Atlas is paying me, I should humor them._

 _So, I guess I'm going to have to do some aura experiments! How fun! It's not like a lot of THOSE ended up in disaster! I swear, Icarus had it easy. At least when he flew to close he died, I get too close… well… uh… fuck. I don't want to even write about that._

(Editor's Notes: Dr. Glass proceeds to study the blade by scanning it on the molecular level. He also starts cutting himself to verify the blade's nature while also testing various aura augmentations or attempted alterations to the blade. He makes some tasteless emo jokes)

 _No matter what I do, I cannot have aura protect myself from the blade. My arm looks like a tic-tac-toe board, and it's a good thing I wear long sleeves to hide my regulators. Anyway, it's time to test further not in aura, but in semblance._

 _As previously recorded in official huntsmen documents and my own research, my semblance is called "Reflection," and simply means I can reverse the trajectory of anything coming my way. Like most semblances, it fatigues me if I use it too much or use it too grandly. I learned that lesson when I got drunk and got into a tussle with a Goliath. I did reverse its charge… but I passed out for a full day afterwards._

 _However, could I possibly reflect this blade if it's thrown at me? Time to put it to the test. I just need to find some old-fashioned knight armor my size and someone who wants to throw a weapon at me. One of those shouldn't be too hard to find._

(Editor's Note: Dr. Glass goes on to complain about knights being 'way too tall,' and how eager his staff is to volunteer. He sets up the experiment and performs it. Results are below)

 _Turns out, I CAN reflect a blood steel blade. Seems like, despite the material being able to ignore aura, it cannot ignore a semblance._

 _It certainly leads credence to my theory that while aura and semblance are both related to the SOUL, they are not related to each other. It's like an arm and a penis, they CAN work together, but at the end of the day they operate separate from each other, but are united by a common central nervous system._

 _How it is like that may require many theories, but I assume, working at the soul level, that…._

* * *

Jaune's aura stopped the faunus's blade, and Jaune, noticing how frozen this 'Adam' character was, he did what he thought he should do. He punched the terrorist in the face.

He honestly had no idea what got over him. He saw that Blake was heavily injured, and that Adam was clearly motioning himself to kill her. The shot from his gun-scabbard thing knocked his weapons out of his hands, so his only option was to use his arm, drain some aura, and protect his friend.

Besides, he had a lot of it! He could spare some.

Jaune saw the blade of Crocea Mors lying on the ground, with his shield further away from him. Jaune picked up the sword, and two handed it, anticipating a quick return from Adam: a punch in the face was rarely enough to ward someone off for good, especially not someone who bested Blake.

He was not wrong.

The warrior stood up, "okay, you got me, I did not expect that. I guess I have to thank you, I almost killed her…"

"You seemed pretty intent to-" Jaune caught that Adam attempted to attack in the middle of his reply. He positioned his sword into a proper guard, colliding with the red katana. It wasn't the short sword he was used to dueling against, but he could possibly manage.

 _Okay, this is like sword-only dueling Pyrrha, except this time your opponent wants to kill you… so effectively my next training session with Pyrrha._

"My honor begs me to kill her," Adam performed another slash, while Jaune performed another block, "but my heart begs her to return to me, but if she won't return to me…" Adam skipped back and unleashed a flurry of directional swipes, pressing forward. Pyrrha had done similar techniques before, and Jaune responded in kind, keeping an eye not only on the masked warrior, but also on the movements of his feet, checking to see an attempt to trip him.

"….uh…. so, you two got history?"

"History is a poor word to describe what we had. We were MAKING history."

"…you still used the word 'history.'"

Adam gritted his teeth and wound up for a vertical strike. He then stopped halfway and shifted it to a diagonal slash. Jaune reacted to the feint and decided for a follow up. Taking a page from Pyrrha's book, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out the notes Pyrrha took for him to study on combat form. He then threw it at Adam's face.

Adam cut the piece of paper stylishly, the two shards of processed pulp floating like forlorn snowflakes. While Adam posed, Jaune rammed the hilt of his sword into the faunus's face, and then shifted his grip and unleashed a strong horizontal slash at Adam, the blade connecting and knocking the faunus away from him.

"I see your style over substance. I've been told to look out for fighters like you…. your biggest exploit is that you like to show off!" Jaune grinned as he reveled in taunting who was probably a wanted criminal and a murderer…. Wait, why was he happy about this? The fear returned to him.

"Oh, I'll show off." Adam panted, "I'll show off your corpse when I'm done with you, then Cinder will reward me handsomely!"

"Cinder?"

"RAAAAARRRGGG!" Adam roared as he charged forward. Jaune blocked the strike, but it took a lot of his strength to keep his footing, the bottoms of his sneakers desperately gripping at the pavement.

Jaune pulled into his strength. People were counting on him! Blake, Nora…. Pyrrha, is she would be willing to forgive him. He opened his eyes, and changed his face from a grunt to a grunt that looked less constipated.

However, it wasn't enough, Adam broke Jaune's guard and wound up for a powerful strike. Jaune decided, with not enough time to form a proper parry, he would just shoulder charge Adam down.

Jaune rammed right into Adam, after feeling the sword make contact with himself on the neck. It was odd, the sword was comically weak. It was the second time the blade hit him, but he didn't even feel the impact. He just heard what sounded like a gong.

 _He bested Blake… with that thing? I've had harder times dealing with weaponized toothpicks! Damn Team BLDD._

Adam was knocked on the ground, and Jaune wound up a downward stab. He drove it home, and he heard the shattering of the terrorist's aura.

Jaune removed the blade. He naturally had no intent on killing the guy, however, Adam didn't know that. He pointed Crocea Mors at Adam's neck. "Stand down."

"Fuck you," Adam breathed, but he didn't move.

Jaune realized just how fatigued he felt… the adrenaline was wearing off and suddenly his muscles started automatically relaxing. Come to think of it, Jaune NEVER felt this tired after a fight, and he's been in longer, and in his opinion more intense fights that this one. It was probably because his life was on the line. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"JAUNE LOOK OUT!" Jaune heard Blake cry.

"Wha-" a sudden searing pain was felt at his legs. He looked down to see a blade stabbed right through one of his kneecaps. In an almost numb instinct, Jaune looked at his scroll to see his aura readings. He took a couple good hits, some he assumed from Adam, and he was almost in the red… but he wasn't out.

"So you aren't untouchable…. Just takes the naïve feeling of safety…"

Jaune fell to the ground, dropping Crocea Mors. It was just his leg, but it was roaring in a mind-consuming sting that prevented him from being able to form words. He wasn't used to this.

"Well," Adam stood up, "I'll take some pleasure wiping your human ass off the face of my earth." He raised his sword to commit the final blow.

Jaune suddenly heard two shots, and he looked up to see Adam dropping his red katana. He looked down to see Adam's own kneecaps bleeding. Both of them. He knelt to the ground, and while he wasn't necessarily weeping, he was seething and hissing and making every other noise that hinted at his dissatisfaction.

"Jaune!" It was a voice Jaune didn't expect to hear for a while, at least, not in the tone of worry. Pyrrha jogged up to the ground-bound leader of Team JNPR, "you were stabbed by a blood steel blade! Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine…. Glad you're talking to me again." Jaune smiled, the pain still squealing in his head, however his still present aura was starting to heal the wound.

"Jaune… I…. we'll talk about this later, like you said." Pyrrha smiled.

"Listen, Jaune," Blake stood up, clutching her chest, like she was recovering from a wound as well. "You BLOCKED a blood steel blade. Not with a shield, with your body. How did you do that?"

"Oh…." Jaune winced when Pyrrha seemed to put pressure on the wound, trying to treat it with her limited medical supplies… her spare ponytail scrunchies. "I mean, I just used my aura, wouldn't it…"

"Blood steel ignores aura Jaune…" Pyrrha looked at Blake, "are you sure that's what happened?"

"I saw it… the second time at least, the first time I wasn't really looking."

Pyrrha looked down, seeming confused, then her face brightened up, "Jaune! You activated your semblance!"

"Wait, really?" The pain was going away, but Jaune's brain still felt numb.

"So… your semblance allows you to stop blood steel, that's pretty specific…" Blake mused.

"No! It's gotta be more than that, Jaune, when the blade hit you, what did you feel?"

"Uh… other than my aura taking a hit… .I felt… like the impact was nothing. I wasn't pushed by it, my muscles didn't react to it… and it sort of just clanked off of me…."

"Holy crap- I mean moly, I was going to say moly….." Pyrrha stopped tending to Jaune's wound, because she was failing miserably at it and Jaune's large aura was making quick work the injury anyway. "That… that sounds like…. Poise."

"Poise?"

"Poise is a term used to describe someone's….. ability to withstand a blow. To take that blow and not stagger. Like Yatsuhashi is considered to have great 'poise,' he gets hit, quite a lot, but sometimes he can just ignore the staggering effect of getting hit and follow up attack anyway, without having to set up a defensive stance… your semblance, ups your poise SO MUCH, that basically nothing, not even a Blood Steel blade could even hope to make you flinch."

"…" Jaune looked at Pyrrha with a quizzical look, "you got all that just from just a couple lines of dialogue?"

"Well… I DID study aura extensively, it's how I'm certified to unlock it…." Pyrrha shrugged, "I'm… proud you discovered your semblance and I'm… very happy your alive." Pyrrha turned away, as if to chastise herself.

"Hey! I'm alive because of you, if it weren't for your training, I wouldn't have been able to even fight this guy," Jaune motioned to the faunus leader still hissing in pain on the ground, his shattered aura not healing his wounds, "and even then, those shots you fired in his kneecaps, saved my life!"

"What? My shots? I thought those were Blake's…" Pyrrha looked at Blake, who shook her head.

"Wasn't me."

"Then… who?" Jaune wondered.

* * *

Melodic Cudgel smoked from being fired with two, high caliber, bone shattering dust rounds. Its wielder, wearing non-descript clothing, slunk back into the shadows.

His work there was done.

* * *

"What do you mean the paladins are sabotaged?" Nora heard the mean chainsaw guy yell. She thought she broke his legs, apparently all she did was hit a kneecap, which, naturally, was painful, whether you had an aura or not.

It was the elbow of the leg, and Nora had plenty of experience ramming her elbow into things and having it hurt like a sumbitch.

"They just are! They aren't working… the circuitry has been ripped out, it doesn't function!"

"Oh for-" Nora tip toed up to the lamenting lieutenant as he turned around. "-fuck's sake!" Nora raised Magnhild and supplied a downward force to his head, destroying the wolf faunus like he was a mere whack-a-mole.

"Ow….my everything."

"Not everything!" Nora cheekily smiled as he kicked the terrorist in the groin. The faunus unpleasantly moaned in pain as he curled up in the ground, lamenting his injuries.

"Never call me a Ginger, ever again." Nora imparted her wisdom until she looked up at the admittedly small, meek, White Fang private. "Are you going to run away or are you going to join your boss on the floor?"

The private curled up on the floor next to his leader, sucking his thumb. "Uh…. You could've run away," Nora informed the faunus, but when the masked man didn't get up, Nora just shrugged and walked off. The warehouse was being cleared.

Yang had Team CRDL in tow, which was interesting to say the least. Apparently they were being held in the neighboring warehouse, and was guarded only by a small number of soldiers, yet a decent amount of toasted bagels. Sky was nice enough to give her one amidst the fighting.

Ren was busy locating stragglers that were trying to escape, hoping after all of this was over the authorities could be called for proper arresting to be performed.

As for Nora, she was simply putting down those that remained to fruitlessly fight. Also she was searching for Jaune.

Apparently he was knocked out of the building by a flying door, which was made flying by Yang punching it. Yang's response was "oops." Nora wasn't too worried, Jaune's aura was so comically huge that his aura didn't shatter after Nora tried to make pancakes on her own.

The only positive to come out of that specific incident was that Yang bought all the spare whip cream to use for… something.

So Nora exited the building, only to run into a fleet of Atlesian Paladins, that apparently weren't functioning. She looked around the rows and rows of advanced war tech and couldn't help but drool slightly. _Why does Atlas have to have all the cool toys?_

"Jaune?" Nora called out, "Jaaa-aaaauuunne! Did you sabotage these thingies? If that's the case I had no idea you knew how to do that!" Nora thought it more likely that, whatever black market vendor they got this tech from, there was probably some mess-ups in transit or they forgot to tell them that there was assembly required.

"Look, you better not be dead!" Nora didn't believe it, but she couldn't help but worry. "Also, you know that Pyrrha would not LITERALLY kill you." The only things Pyrrha could kill were Grimm, and maybe a sentient robot. However, sentient robots didn't exist so only Grimm. "Just…. Awkward conversations, which trust me, you get used to!"

Nora couldn't find any sign of the blonde leader, so she left and reconvened with the group, Yang dragging a group of terrorists that Ren himself tied up.

"Where did you get those restraints?" Nora asked.

Ren shrugged, "it was what the White Fang used to tie up Team CRDL." Ren lazily pointed to the team that were sharing high fives amongst each other

"Oh, I LOVE some good irony!" Yang smiled, "I'm a big f-eh-n!"

"Fen?" Nora raised an eyebrow.

Ren shuddered and groaned, "Fe-n, Fe is the symbol for Iron, she likes irony, huge fan, but with an 'Fe.'" The ninja rubbed his face, "that was really pushing it you know."

"Hey! You got it!" Yang smiled, "now in all that excitement I…." suddenly her face solidified into a look of worry, "Blake!"

"Blake's here too?" Nora hoisted her hammer along her shoulder.

"Yeah, she flung me away when…."

"This asshole attacked, I assume?" Jaune's voice responded, with Blake and Pyrrha in tow. Being dragged behind them by a suspiciously glowing metal rod that was unnaturally bent to act as restraints was a red haired, scar-faced, edgy looking man.

"Yeah! That's the asshole!" Yang pointed at the man, then knelt down, "what does it feel like, to be beaten like a little bitch!"

The man just grumbled something, but it had more F-bombs than the entirety of the Atlas military.

"Jaune beat him, all by himself!" Pyrrha beamed with pride.

"Uh… actually, I'm pretty sure Blake wore him down for me."

"Yeah… I did." Blake reaffirmed.

"Uh..." Pyrrha seemed to shift a bit, "well, he still fought well."

"His semblance is me-shit." The bull faunus mumbled with slightly more volume.

"Oh yeah, Jaune unlocked his-"

"YOU UNVEILED YOUR SEMBLANCE WITHOUT ME?" Nora blurred up to Jaune and bonked him on the head, "you have to show me…"

After the bonk, Jaune's aura shattered around him.

"Uh…. Show me… when you… get your aura back…." Nora backed off, as Pyrrha gave her a dirty look. "Sorry for… uh…."

Jaune laughed, "it's fine, Nora. It seems like there's no more fighting to do anyway!"

"NOOOORRRRAAAAAAAAA!" A hellishly angelic voice roared from the heavens.

"Oh boy." Nora sighed and turned around to face an angry Glynda Goodwitch.

* * *

Ruby was walking Zwei around the fairgrounds. The dog had been acting restless, shifting in its bed, pacing around the room, and all the while would not stop whimpering. Ruby had no idea what she could do to make whatever was bothering her little doggy go away, but she thought a night-time walk could be enough to at least relieve it of pent up energy.

Beacon at night looked entirely different, it was almost… ominous. The tall tower looked less like a 'Beacon,' and more like an ever present light, that watched and felt nothing. Its greenish glow covered the mighty buildings with an almost sickly peridot hue. It reminded her of the multitude of Halloween parties, except instead of tacky decorations being illuminated, it was an ancient (at least compared to her) cathedral-like haven of huntsmen.

Zwei didn't seem too pleased with their surroundings either, sniffing, whimpering, and pacing. Zwei had been acting odd lately, a little less adorable, and a little more… concerned. Can dogs feel concerned?

It was similar when they were searching the township of Mountain Glenn, the dark, dead streets that were inhabited only by monsters. Zwei still acted normally enough, but carried around like a small weight had been placed on his even smaller back. This was how he was acting now.

Suddenly, Zwei yipped and bounded away from her, yanking the leash away from her lightly grasping hand. "Zwei!" Ruby called out, chasing after her with a light jog. If she ran at full speed she would undoubtedly step on the poor pooch.

The dog eventually stopped at a large, obsidian-colored wall. Zwei simply sat and looked at his reflection on the black surface. Ruby slowed down to look at the ominous monolith, names scarring its flawless sheen.

The memorial was not necessarily the coolest place to hang out in Beacon. Students who passed in school were thankfully few, since to get in you have to pass certain qualifications that made the admissions board confident in your survival…. Or impress the headmaster. Those names were etched in white.

Etched in gold, however, were graduates who passed in the line of duty. That was an eerily large number, golden scrawls spreading through the obsidian slab like a sparkling blight. More slabs were added as the years of the school went on, and apparently a new one was to be placed by the year's end.

Ruby shivered at the sight, never having seen it in the darkling hours of night. It's blackness seemed less like marble and more like a reflective void, promising your name to appear on its person in the years to come.

Zwei started to 'stand,' placing two paws on the slab, and started sniffing at a specific name. Ruby knelt down to see the name. _Summer Rose._

Ruby shuddered seeing the name. Admittedly, her memories of her mother were fleet. All she could recall were emotions, not specifics. The feelings of comfort, the hope she gave her little child. The love that enveloped that little cabin in Patch.

 _What is Zwei doing?_ Zwei never met Summer before, in fact, in Zwei's world, she probably never even existed. What would drag the dog out to sniff the name of her mother on the memorial. Could it be a coincidence?

Then again, Zwei had accompanied her the multiple times she visited her mom's grave. But what did that have to do with-

"…I come here at night myself, often wondering what I could've done."

Ruby jumped to see Ozpin standing before the memorial, a couple feet behind her. "I'm sorry… I know it's past curfew, but my full team is out doing something, and Zwei was…"

"No need to explain yourself." Ozpin gave a small smile while shaking his head. "Night time is when the world is most quiet, except for maybe some place like a forest…" Ozpin walked up to the memorial. "I see that Zwei is acting strange."

"Yeah… he is…." Ruby looked down at the dog, who was panting at Mom's name. "Uh… Ozpin, is there a reason Zwei… wanted to come here?"

Ozpin looked up, "there are people who believe in omens. Do you know of omens, Ruby?"

"Uh…." Ruby shuffled her feet, "they're like prophecies, without words, right?"

"That's a definition," Ozpin nodded, "and many believe omens could be traced in the actions of animals, their senses much more acute than even a faunus's."

"Well…. what does it have to do with my Mom?"

Ozpin let out a deep sigh, "I'm not the one with the answers."

"Who does?"

"…. It's best not to think about it."

Ruby looked back at Zwei, then looked up at Ozpin. "How did…. How did she die."

Ozpin looked back, his face clearly surprised by the question.

"I mean… if there's an omen regarding my mother… clearly it has something to do with her. So… I never learned how she died…"

Ozpin walked up to Ruby, and knelt down to look at her face to face. "She died protecting those she loved." He stood up and walked off.

Ruby stood still, looking upon the mass tombstone of many a huntsman. Some died as legends, others were quietly forgotten, only their loved ones remembering their sacrifice.

"Also," Ozpin called back to Ruby, "Blake and Yang will be showing up shortly with Team JNPR, you should be there to congratulate them on capturing the leader of the White Fang."

 _WHAT?_ Ruby's glum mood was replaced with annoyance, _why am I never around for any of the fun stuff?_

She grabbed Zwei's lead and _gently_ ran off to the bullhead docks. She was going to whine so hard about them leaving to go on an exciting mission without her.

* * *

Nora sat in Glynda's office. She had her explanation, and Goodwitch understood her actions, and lauded her quick thinking to go to those at need. However, like Goodwitch herself, she was expecting a big BUT at the end of it.

"BUT!" the professor exclaimed, "you did NOT notify the Beacon staff, who would be sensitive to the hostage negotiation, but would allowed for a more PROFESSIONAL approach rather than your slap dashed attempt at a rescue. You could've just called and informed us on the way there!"

"Well, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren didn't call and I'm the least responsible of them all so…"

"Yes, but you also SKIPPED detention! And I don't care if you are the least responsible, you NEED to get responsibility."

"Look, I'm sorry I ignored your detention summons to save lives."

"And I'm not arguing that, I'm simply stating you were incredibly irresponsible and refused to keep the important parties informed."

"Then why aren't you yelling at Jaune?"

"I will!" Professor Goodwitch emphatically replied, "but you are the one with detention, and by Oum I WILL have my detention!"

"A little OCD there Miss…" Nora mumbled.

"OCD is not a mental illness, it is a lifestyle!" Goodwitch retorted. "Besides, from what I heard, you risked the entire operation because a terrorist insulted you! Miss Valkyrie, I assure you that being insulted by bad guys is part of the job…"

"BUT GINGER IS SO GROSS AND IT MAKES ME PUFF UP AND-" Nora stopped when Goodwitch's crop slammed on the desk with a menacing crack… Nora missed having that crop, and looking at the assistant headmistress's brief smile, so did she.

"You will stay here and work on homework…"

"It's practically midnight!"

"And I've had later nights," Glynda looked condescendingly at the hyper bomber, "and I assume you've had such as well. So open your books, do your work, and I'll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you keep busy."

Nora sighed as she opened up her book bag, "hey miss, can I borrow something from your bookshelf-"

"Aw HELL NAH!" Goodwitch covered her mouth, acting as if she had spoken louder than she intended. "Ahem, no you may not. I may select a book for you if you feel the need."

"That's fine." Nora sighed. All she had to read were her notebooks. She pulled one out and started reading it, only to realize it wasn't her handwriting.

 _Oh yeah! This is the notebook Jaune gave me to help with Pyrrha._ Nora sighed, it just reminded her that she was missing out on probably one of the juiciest conversations in all of Beacon.

Come to think of it… Nora wondered what was going to happen between the two. Were they finally going to get together, or will Jaune's concerns continue to define his refusal? Yet more importantly…

…what was the result Nora wanted the most?

* * *

The rooftop was an eloquent place at night, and it was a view Jaune was most familiar with.

His leg was still stinging slightly, but the wound he had on his leg had dried up to a disgusting scab. He was just thankful the blade hadn't penetrated any bone, having scrapped his knee joint while pressing through, but was angled in a way that all it did was tear through flesh.

Apparently that was the weakness of Blood Steel, it didn't damage aura, except when he blocked it with his semblance. So his aura healed it mostly, until Nora shattered it with her trademark aggressive affection, but by then it was practically healed back.

Blake's recovery took a bit longer. It was a more profound wound and she had less aura to heal it with. She was resting in the medical bay, as Ruby hilariously chastised Yang for doing exciting things without her 'again.'

He was…. waiting on the roof. It was time to face the music, just like Nora had to face the music for skipping detention.

He also made sure to contact the authorities about the hostage negotiation, and while he had no desire to talk to Goodwitch, he sent a sneaky text message to Ozpin describing their current situation. He had a feeling Ozpin would let them do it their way. Jaune wanted as few people involved as possible.

He would feel good about it, he handled it quite cleanly and efficiently. It was a bit arrogant of him to presume his plan to dealing with the hostage negotiation was the superior to whatever the police or Beacon would cook up, but he was in a rush, he didn't want to possibly waste time talking to people. He had to act.

Besides, if something went wrong, magical dog.

But yes, he would've felt good about it. He SHOULD feel good about it, but there was something that needed doing, and whatever the result was-"

The clacking of heels was heard in the background as Jaune clenched his fists, his small dull nails digging mildly into his coarse hands. He turned around to see his partner, Pyrrha Nikos.

"So…. Uh…." Jaune felt his arm go up to the back of his head, scratching it, "I guess I have some explaining to do?"

"How long have you known?... Who told you?"

"No one told me," Jaune replied, "I…. I figured out near the end of last year."

"How?"

"Well, I mean, you were doting on me all year, and I really appreciated that, but… I never associated those actions with romantic intent. I mean, I have seven sisters, six of them did similar things for me…. and since I don't think of them romantically, I didn't think of your actions romantically."

Pyrrha nodded, motioning him to continue.

"But then…. It was when I finally gave up on pursuing Weiss."

* * *

 _"I don't know what I was thinking," Jaune said, "I mean, I still think she's a great girl, but…. Nothing I do will ever impress her. I think it's time for me to move on."_

 _"I'm sorry to hear that, but… maybe this is a good thing." Pyrrha replied as they sat out on the roof, the moon bathing them in radiant silver light._

 _"I guess it is," Jaune laid back. "I guess I can focus on my school work more, possibly focus all that energy somewhere else."_

 _"That's not what I meant! I mean… uh… those are good, but maybe you could be… looking for someone else? There are many different fish in the sea…" Pyrrha laid back as well. The partners continued their conversation stargazing._

 _"I know, but I really think I should just take a break from fishing. Reflect, focus on other things than vain attempts at a love life."_

 _"They weren't vain!" Pyrrha's voice gained a small amount of volume. "They were… quite impressive. I honestly am surprised Weiss didn't even humor you." Pyrrha giggled, but there was a hint of relief in there._

 _"What, has no one ever tried to win you over that hard?..."_

 _"No…. no one…. Really ever tried. At least not seriously."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

 _"Well…. how should I say this? In the crowds there would be signs emblazoned with 'I Heart Pyrrha.' There were social media fan clubs for my 'body' over my fighting 'form,' so to speak. There was even 'fanfiction.' Now THAT was weird." Jaune laughed as Pyrrha suppressed a vibrant blush. "But in school… no one approached me. No one really talked to me. I didn't even have any people pursuing me to be my friend, let alone people wanting to flirt with me. Yes, some would come up with their greetings, but it was like attempting to be 'the friend of Pyrrha Nikos' to everyone else, not to me." Pyrrha sighed. "It…. It was rather lonely, and it's similar here, but with one major difference…."_

 _"And that is?" Jaune scuttled closer to his partner, ready to give a hug if she started crying._

 _"You." Pyrrha looked up, her emerald eyes moistly beaming into his. "You… being so clueless, didn't know who I was. I was just another student here in Beacon, not some…. Idol or standard or person on a pedestal, destined to be left untouched. You…" she started laughing, "your incompetence saved me. Saved me from a boring, friendless life." She turned back to the sky, "I'd rather have you than the most competent partner and leader in the world."_

 _"Even a partner with legit transcripts?"_

 _"Even a partner with legit transcripts." Pyrrha laughed slightly._

 _As the night grew quiet, Jaune gave his thought response. "Well, you LITERALLY saved my life. And… well…. you taught me more than any of the professors here have. And I guess… well… you mean that much to me too. You… you were the first person to ever have faith in me… well… maybe second if you consider…"_

 _"Please, don't ruin the moment," Pyrrha deadpanned._

 _Jaune laughed, "sure. You were the first, and at the start of this the only, person to have faith in me. Thank you for that."_

 _"And thank you for allowing me to have friends. For not leaving me lonely."_

 _"I guess you're welcome?" Jaune giggled, "but then again that's what friends are for, right?"_

 _Pyrrha then let out an out-of-place, heavy sigh. "Yeah… friends." Jaune dwelled on the way Pyrrha said that like she was… disappointed. But he didn't make any further comment._

 _They continued silently stargazing, until Jaune looked at his scroll. "Wow, it's late!" He exclaimed, but he slowly got up. "We should probably head for bed." He reached out his hand for Pyrrha to grab it. She grasped it, and slowly rose, her face nearing Jaune's when she finally stood upright. Her face was so close, Jaune could feel her short breaths, and the reddish tint on her cheeks._

 _"Uh… yeah…." Jaune walked away, a flustered thought coming to him. His feet practically fled through the halls, his walk frantically paced._

 _When he arrived at the bathroom to prepare for a shower, he saw Ren in a towel, shaving._

 _"Uh… Ren…."_

 _"Yes Jaune."_

 _"Do you think Pyrrha has a crush on me... or something?"_

 _Ren turned around, his eyes widening. He walked over to Jaune slowly…. Then wrapped his arms around him._

 _"I…. was so worried…" Was Ren freakin' SOBBING INTO HIS SHOULDER?! "…that I had a leader who couldn't see the OBVIOUS!"_

* * *

"You've known for that long…" Pyrrha responded, "you've known for that long…"

"To be fair it hasn't been THAT long." Jaune justified. He suddenly had to back off as Akuou sped towards his face, but was immediately stopped mere millimeters from his nose.

"It HAS been THAT long," Pyrrha responded, trace amounts of hurt leaking from her voice. "Why…. Why haven't you told me? What…" she paused, "…what are you afraid of?"

"Other than your weapons?" Jaune sheepishly replied. Akuou moved forward a millimeter. "OKAY!... Look, I was… I was afraid of losing YOU."

"Huh?" The shield was dropped to the ground as Pyrrha looked confused.

"Throughout all my life, I've seen what happens to romantic relationships. The only successful one I saw were my parents… but… they weren't love at first sight. They didn't even go to the same school. Mom went to Atlas. Dad went to Beacon. By that time they had… grown up much more than we have."

"So… we don't have to follow the same rules as your parents."

"I know that," Jaune gently snapped, "but… my sisters. They went through many relationships, but whenever they broke up…. When they realized the relationship was MORE than just kissing and cuddles and stargazing… it was… it was too awkward for them to even interact as mere acquaintances!

"And before you say it, yes, some of them were rushed, but a decent portion of them were close friends. Us Arcs are very… attached to people. With one big exception." Jaune muttered that last bit. "And they never were friends again. You see what I'm saying Pyrrha." Jaune looked pleadingly at his partner.

"But…. But it can end differently. I KNOW it will end…"

"Do you know, Pyrrha?" Jaune looked at her, yet nothing condescending was expressed. "I assume you've imagined a romantic relationship with me… and… so have I." Jaune blushed, "but…. I couldn't help but only imagine… the good moments. The… uh…" Jaune blushed, "I won't go into too many details but…. You know what I treasure with you more than any of that. What we already have..."

Jaune motioned to the rooftop. "Not just you helping me with my homework and my combat. Our conversations. Our quiet moments up here. Down in our room, talking and laughing with Ren and Nora. Eating in the cafeteria, acting as normal teenagers." Jaune stepped closer to Pyrrha, "And… if we tried to take it further… sure, it'd be fun, but love isn't just for fun… it's work. And… I'm not sure if either of us are ready for the work we'd put in for one another."

"What do you mean by work, Jaune?"

"What I mean is that there would be fights…"

"Like right now?"

"But…" Jaune sighed, struggling to form his argument competently, "…I value you too much to risk breaking your heart."

"You ARE breaking my heart!"

"But worse!" Jaune replied, "what if I get sick of dealing with your fame! What if you get sick of me… I dunno… doing occasionally gross and inappropriate things! What if I'm too nervous to talk to you about something and…. look," Jaune raised his arms, "I am not against trying it… I'm not, but… we would put a strain on our team if anything went wrong. Because Pyrrha…" Jaune braced himself for it, "I don't know if I love you. And I don't know if you love me. I think we should wait until school is over, so we don't potentially end up lingering with something full of regret."

Silence. Deafening, wailing, and expressive silence.

Pyrrha walked up to Jaune and slapped him.

"I guess I deserve that…" Jaune mumbled, rubbing the mark, his aura haven't fully returning yet.

Pyrrha then removed the arm, and planted a firm kiss on the same cheek she struck.

"You deserve that as well," Pyrrha replied meekly. "I… don't agree with you. But I can't force you into something you don't feel comfortable with." She turned around, and sadly walked away. However, before she disappeared, she turned her head around to ask one more question.

"Would you date Nora?"

"What?" Jaune was taken aback by the question. "I mean… she is lower risk but…. I don't see myself doing that right now…"

Pyrrha smiled lightly, "well… it just goes to show how much of a great leader you are when you consider the 'risks' of dating within your team." A light yet sad chuckle left her mouth as she walked away.

Jaune stood still as he rubbed his face, "well, that could've gone better, but could've gone worse. What do you think Zwei-oh…" He was so used to seeing the dog following a kiss on the cheek.

Speaking of Zwei, what would he do if Nora wanted to date him? Or vice versa? It certainly held less risk than dating Pyrrha, but still….

Wait, why was he considering the _risk_? Nora wasn't his type, and neither was he her type, why would that even be something on the table for consideration?

 _That is a bold-faced lie and you know it!_ His mind challenged him. Nora DID have chemistry with him, and vice versa. They were hanging out a lot more, with no Zwei required. Jaune realized he loved Nora's sense of humor and fun-filled energy. Life was much less dour with her, with hints of cheerfulness even in the most depressing of conversations and situations.

Yet she was more than that, she… she was one of the most empathic people he ever met. She was considerate, kind and understanding. And…

 _Jaune, stop it!_ Jaune shook himself out of that thought process. It wasn't healthy to consider he and Nora's romantic chemistry. Nora was a good friend, that's all. Just like Pyrrha.

Jaune sighed. _Just like Pyrrha._

* * *

 **A/N: DAMN ME THAT WAS HARD TO WRITE! *Sigh* Sorry that this chapter is admittedly rather humorless for most of it but… yeah… you knew this conversation was coming.**

 **A lot of people seemed expectant of a comically violent confrontation from Pyrrha but… well… that's not how I envisioned this moment going down. Jaune didn't make his point that well, Pyrrha still being rather stubborn but… in the end… she respects Jaune enough to allow him to have his opinion. She is a fighter, but only in the ring. In the end of the day she doesn't have the social self-confidence or aggressive arrogance to fight harder in this regard. She seems to me the type of person who's only comfortable physically fighting.**

 **Also, yes, Jaune's semblance in this fic is called "poise." Basically it's hyper armor in fighting games, except of attacks inexplicably phasing through, they stop like they just hit a brick wall. It's how he was able to push himself off the wall from the Zwei tornado, the wind was no longer pushing him. He still takes damage if he's hit, so it's not INVINCIBILITY, but… it does have some nifty techniques available when used in conjunction with a shield…**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Walk a Dog in the Middle of the Night!**


	16. Release into the Pup-lic

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Nora burst down the door of Team JNPR's room. "Hey guys, you wouldn't BELIEVE who joined me for detention…." Nora looked around the room and only saw Ren studying. "Hey Ren! Where's Jaune and Pyrrha?"

"Probably in two separate places." Ren noted, as Nora sighed. Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't been hanging out much since their… discussion. Pyrrha divulged in the details and Jaune… could've handled it better: focused less on the consequences and more on the fact that Pyrrha was looking at him with more escapism than general love. However, Nora couldn't even imagine how awkward it must've been.

It wasn't team-shattering. They still worked together in team battles, but… the chemistry was hurt outside of it. They didn't even have their private practices on the roof anymore. Or maybe they did, it was just less frequent.

At dog training Jaune preferred to avoid the subject. Whether he "loved" her or not, Pyrrha was VERY important to him. It probably stung, and Nora knowing people, Jaune probably blamed himself.

It sucked. It sucked more than when the orphanage ran out of pancake batter.

"Nora, you're gripping…."

"I KNOW!" Nora groaned, dropping Magnhild and slouching on her bed. "Uhhhg, why do us teenagers have to be so… awkward!?"

"Simple." Ren stated, "we live in our heads, the world around us exists without it. Therefore, when life doesn't match what's in our heads, we don't know what to do."

"Ren…." Nora flopped on the bed to face her partner, "I appreciate the philosophy, but you didn't give me a solution!"

"You didn't ask for one," Ren replied, his eyes still focused on the textbook he was studying. Nora huffed, "well, if you can think of one, that'd be great."

"You're the one who's good with people, not me." Ren shrugged.

"Ren, you're like the best person ever, but sometimes, you suck." Nora sighed. "Why can't things just be perfect?"

"Because perfection is an asymptote we cannot hope to attain?"

"Ren, seriously? Math references?"

"You remember what an asymptote is?"

"I have a good memory!" Nora defended. "Also… it has 'ass' in it and I thought that was funny." She added quietly.

"Figures." Ren chuckled. "Look, it was bound to happen. Pyrrha had feelings for Jaune and Jaune… was uncertain. We're lucky they didn't start dating and have something like this emerge then."

"True." Nora shuffled on her bed to look at the ceiling. "Still…. I wish there was something I could do."

"We can't force anything to change. The best we can be are supporters in this admittedly awkward time."

"Ren, you always sound right but….." Nora forced shut her eyes in frustration as she wiggled her knuckles, "there HAS to be something! I mean, Pyrrha is such a nice person! Like, almost TOO nice! She deserves to be happy! And Jaune, someone so hapless and considered a joke last year, yet he's so sweet and nice and charismatic and handsome and great and a great hugger and such a great listener and he has that cute look whenever something confuses him and he's so smart and…."

"Wait…" Ren finally removed his gaze from his textbook and looked at Nora, "… you aren't crushing on Jaune, are you?"

"WHAT?" Nora hopped out of bed, smashing herself into the floor. "No! That'd be ridiculous, me crushing on Jaune?" Nora pulled into herself and let out a spiteful raspberry of disdain, "why would I crush on him? I mean, he's just awesome but…. That's Pyrrha's booty, not mine!"

"Just because Pyrrha has a crush on him doesn't mean others can't."

"I don't know WHAT you are insinuating!" Nora put her hands on her hips as she stood up, "but I assure you, I do NOT think about Jaune and what'd it be like to be with him intimately! Not what'd be like to…. be there and enjoy the comfort of his embrace. What'd he'd feel like when he…." Nora stopped, a fiery blush reaching her face. "Ren…. what am I supposed to do?…" she mumbled.

Ren stood up from his chair and hugged Nora. "Be honest with yourself, maybe." Nora stiffened at Ren's unexpected hug. As was normal for Ren though, he quickly left the embrace. "Sorry," Ren gave a small smile, "it's the only way to make sure you don't blurt out something."

Nora was still silent as Ren sat back in his chair. "You and Jaune have been spending a lot of time together. It's only natural, studies have shown that…."

"Yet you never had that happen to you…. with me?" Nora practically whispered.

Ren bowed his head, "I see you as a sister, Nora. And…. well… it's hard for me to think of you as anything else. Believe me, I've tried."

Nora and Ren shared a silence. It wasn't awkward as much as it was…. silent.

"So… you're saying?"

"If you like Jaune… like that. Be honest with yourself. It's more than I've ever done." Ren sighed. "Look, I get if you feel it's 'unfair' to Pyrrha, but…. Romance is romance, it doesn't follow rules of fairness, it just happens. It's unfair for you to squash your feelings because someone sees the same thing you do." Ren shrugged.

"Ren…" Nora's voice was uncharacteristically quiet, "….I have a question."

"Shoot."

"…are you gay?"

"WHAT?" Ren hopped out of his chair and landed on the floor. "No! That'd be ridiculous! I mean, I have nothing against people who are gay, it's just that… that's not me. I mean, why would it be…"

"Ren…"

"…yeah?"

"If you were gay. That'd be okay, I mean 'cause hey!"

"Oh Oum don't sing a song…"

"I'd like you a-ny-way!"

Ren sighed as he listened to the Thinway musical song. Sometimes it was best to just let her do her thing, and not let it bother you. Besides, things like this always brought Ren back to… then.

 _"I'm Nora! And you are?"_

 _"Ren."_

 _"Well, Renny!" Nora added, "I'm going to become your BEST FRIEND!"_

 _"Uh….." Ren added, not sure what to expect._

 _"Because!" Nora said before Ren could say anything, "you look lonely! I too feel lonely! And when two people feel lonely, they should help each other!"_

Ren smiled as Nora continued singing. Ren may never see her romantically, but Nora was more than a 'love interest.' She was more than being his 'sister.'

She was his first and only friend. Ren would NEVER forget that. For as awkward as Nora made him feel, or how conflicted he felt, Nora was more important to him than any of that.

Nora was his best friend. He was sad he couldn't be more to her, but…. He would do almost anything for Nora.

"If it were meee! I would feel free to say, that I am gay! But I'm not gay!"

However, her love of musicals was tiring.

* * *

Pyrrha was doing okay. She was doing fine! Nothing anyone should be concerned about!

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, as Pyrrha flashed her a smile.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you've been hitting that practice robot for over an hour…"

"At least I'm not gripping Magnhild," Pyrrha muttered, as she realized that the crumbled robot in front of her was begging for her mercy.

"Kill meeeee."

Pyrrha obliged by slicing off its head. "How are you Ruby?" There were a lot of things on her mind… NONE OF IT TROUBLING THOUGH! She would enjoy a distraction from Ruby…. THOIUGH IT'S NOT NEEDED!

"Oh, I'm doing fine. Team's doing well in class, myself included!" Ruby stood up on her toes and straightened her outfit. "And I'm just here for training. Weiss had detention for… something. She refused to tell me, and Blake and Yang are…. Shopping? Anyway, thought I'd slay some bots after class!" Ruby's smile was almost therapeutic. Pyrrha looked at it with joy as she let it massage her brain.

"How about you?" Ruby dropped Pyrrha back to reality. She hated reality.

"Well… nothing special!" Pyrrha gave the smile she gave to the presses. "Just… practicing and enjoying life!"

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "did you and Jaune have a fight?"

"What?" Pyrrha found her grip on Milo weak, and she dropped the weapon to the ground, "I mean… while a team would come to disagreements, there wouldn't be one that would distract me every waking moment that I can think…." Pyrrha sighed.

"Yeah…. We did."

"Oh…" Ruby looked at Pyrrha with concern, "… do you…. want to talk about it?"

"He's such an idiot!" Pyrrha found herself bursting out loud, " 'I don't want to start a relationship within the team, it might make things awkward!' He…. he doesn't…" Pyrrha sighed, frustration mounting within her. "I just…. He wants to play it safe… but not realizing what 'playing it safe' will do."

"So he knows how you feel about him… did you confess?" Ruby asked.

"UGH!" Pyrrha exclaimed, "I wish I did, but apparently…. He knew."

"Well, doesn't take too much effort…." Ruby responded, before shrinking back to Pyrrha's harsh gaze. "I mean… well…. okay it was obvious."

Pyrrha softened under Ruby's defensive gaze. She was just trying to help. "It's fine," Pyrrha responded, "it's just…. I wish he….. well…" Pyrrha felt moist around the eyes. "It's just… he's so stupid! He's focused on the outcome more than what…we COULD have!"

"And as a leader, shouldn't he consider all possibilities?" Ruby stood as straight as she could, "I mean, his interests should extend beyond him; he should apply it also to the team." Ruby visibly shrugged, "as a leader, he should put all his personal enjoyment, along with the personal enjoyment of his team-mate's… to assure that the team works as well as it can."

Pyrrha stared at Ruby, her emerald eyes piercing, "well… maybe, it's just-"

"Look, the wisest answer is not always the best FEELING one." Ruby interrupted, "I get you feel hurt, but maybe Jaune has some reasoning behind it? Reasoning you failed to consider?"

"I'm just blaming it on men. You know, the concept, not the entire half of the populace."

Ruby laughed, "Dad says the same thing… but about women, or 'girls' whenever we drove him nuts."

Pyrrha sighed and sunk down into a bench, grabbing a water bottle and splashing her face with its contents. "Well, it's not like things could get more awkward-hmph!"

Ruby rushed up and covered Pyrrha's mouth. "NEVER say something like that!" The girl removed her hand. "You'll jinx yourself and something INCREDIBLY awkward will happen!"

"But what can be worse than…. This?"

* * *

"So how's organizing the second year mid-semester missions?" Glynda stumbled through that mouthful as Ozpin cheekily sat happily in his chair.

"Well, a majority of our students aren't even aware that they're happening, so that's going to plan!"

"How are they so oblivious… I mean, it's WRITTEN on the syllabus!"

"You expect our students to read from the syllabus?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow as Glynda groaned internally. "Besides, it is common for huntsmen and huntresses to leave at a moment's notice to go kill monsters. Very rarely in their professional careers can they look ahead to 'when' they are 'needed.' So, it is probably best that they don't know these are happening."

"Speaking of knowing 'when they are needed,' have you contacted the professional huntsmen that will be shadowing them?"

"Oh yes I have, and we have an interesting bunch this year!" Ozpin smiled betrayed an almost…. Malicious intent. Ozpin was as good a man as one could be, but…. He had his 'sadistic' tendencies. Not in pain, but in general discomfort. Cringe comedy was his favorite genre of real life.

"Ozpin…." Glynda, raised an eyebrow, "… what did you do?"

"I did nothing, well, I did something. But I did NOTHING that would warrant such an accusatory glare!" Ozpin laid back in his chair, still smiling.

"Ozpin…"

Ozpin closed his eyes, and placed his hands behind his head, humming a simple tune.

"Ozpin…"

Ozpin remained in his chair, his smile growing wider as the tune reached its happy-go-lucky chorus.

"OZPIN!"

Ozpin opened up his eyes and sighed, "well, all teams were randomly assigned missions…"

"Yes… that's normal."

"But I…. maayyybe tinkered with the results."

"You always do that."

"Well…." Ozpin seemed to shrink back. "Someone may have called and… asked to… accompany a… certain team…."

"….Ozpin…. who?"

"…and that mission that that certain team was assigned to already had a huntsman assigned to it…"

"Ozpin… which team and who are the huntsmen?"

Ozpin smiled, "let's just say it's going to be interesting."

"Ozpin…." Glynda warned. She however did not get a response.

* * *

"Will all second year students please report to the auditorium to be assigned an on-field mission." The intercom buzzed

"A MISSION?" Ruby jumped up from her lounging position on her bed. "I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WAS GOING TO BE A MISSION!"

"I told you, like, fifty times!" Weiss chastised.

"And…. I might have confused it for a lecture, so I… kinda tuned you out!"

"Uhg! Dunce!"

"They didn't really put much focus on it, to be fair," Blake added .

"It was written on the syllabus!"

"We have a syllabus?" Yang looked the most surprised of all of them.

"Yes! We were given them at the start of our second year, remember?"

"Oh! Yeah, that!" Yang scratched the back of her head, "I may have thrown it away right afterwards… I don't like having extra paper lying around…"

Weiss groaned, "why must you all be so difficult?"

"We weren't the one in detention earlier today." Blake snarked.

Weiss felt a blush cover her face. She didn't need to be reminded of that.

"Oh yeah…. Why were you in detention again?" Yang asked innocently enough, though that cheeky grin seemed to betray some foreknowledge.

"I don't want to talk about it! It was a simple misunderstanding is all!"

"Yeah… a misunderstanding indeed!" Yang wiggled her eyebrows.

"Weiss… did you…" Ruby leaned in to whisper, "…do something inappropriate in public?"

"WHAT?" Weiss jumped up, "No… I mean… look, let's just go to the auditorium! I don't want to be late!"

"Oh, and Ruby," Blake gave Ruby a cold glare, "DON'T bring Zwei along this time? Please?"

"Awww, why not?"

"Blake's right, this mission might be more dangerous." Yang patted Ruby on the shoulder, "we shouldn't risk bring Zwei again."

"But…. But…. He helped so much on the last mission…." Ruby mustered the most pitiful gaze she could muster.

"That was dumb luck," Blake muttered. Weiss walked up to the lamenting leader. "Listen, Zwei… is a great morale booster, but…. We don't even chose this mission we get assigned, and since they want to train us in a variety of tasks, I doubt we'll get another 'search and destroy,' mission. We need to leave Zwei behind…."

Ruby pouted, but understood the arguments. She looked at the dog in question, who was peacefully sunning itself by the window. Zwei would be fine without joining them…. Right?

"Besides, we stocked up on dog food!" Yang cheered as she pulled out an unusually large amount of dog food from a unusually small chest. "Zwei will be fine, he knows how to work a can-opener!"

"How did you train Zwei to do that?" Weiss asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Science!" Yang 'explained.' "Look, we should get going."

"Agreed." Weiss nodded, as she made her way to the door. "Everyone else coming?"

Ruby looked down, looked back at Zwei, then looked back at her team motioning towards the door. "I'm coming." She joined her team in the hallway, and they made their way to the auditorium.

However, in the excitement and depression, not one of Team RWBY noticed they left the door open.

* * *

"Oooh boy! A mission! I wonder what it will be! Will it be us fighting off hordes of Grimm to defend a city? OOH! OR will it be like detective work, searching the underbelly of Vale for the seediest of crimes." Nora jumped around her team, her theories consuming all of which was around her.

"Whatever it is, it sure will be challenging." Ren added. "This isn't going to be as easy as that previous mission we did last year."

"Yeah, we did get off easy, didn't we?" Jaune agreed. The mission last year was simply going to a village, walking around for a bit, then having to fight off Pyrrha fans. The village was near the Mistral border; it should've been expected. Apparently Ren expected the village to hold the secret to his origins, but… well, he wasn't correct.

Just as how the "Grimm problem," turned out to be a lone Beowulf and a bunch of drunk cultists who worshipped the Grimm by wearing costumes. THAT was weird. But not difficult.

"Well, whatever it is, we can deal with it together. Right Jaune?" Pyrrha glanced at him, her smile clearly more forced than usual. Jaune felt guilty. Pyrrha was being a good sport relative to what was going on. Agreed, their roof-top practices have become less frequent, but… well, she still seemed to sweetly smile at him, support him as a leader, and being a good partner in general. It wasn't what they once had but… maybe it could return in time.

Jaune still chastised himself for word choice and not making his point well enough. Still, it is what it is.

He was a screw up, but at least Pyrrha sort of forgave him. It was all he could ask for.

"Yeah, if we stand together, we can handle almost anything! Right guys!"

"Right!" Pyrrha reaffirmed.

"Sure." Ren added.

"Heck ye-WAIT!" Nora stopped in her tracks. "I forgot my spare dust-grenades! Let me run back and get them, you… go without me, I'll catch up later!" Nora bolted away.

"Uh… should we wait?" Jaune looked at Ren, who shrugged.

"Nora's not going to pay attention to the mission debriefing anyway." Ren gave Jaune and Pyrrha a look that said, 'did you expect me to respond differently?'

"…fair enough." Jaune acquiesced, "let's get a move on!"

They reached the auditorium. It was packed with all the second years, all of them looking confused over the sudden declaration of an on-field mission. Ozpin stood at the stage, cane in hand and Glynda by his side.

"Now, when you become professionals, generally you select your own missions, however," Ozpin adjusted his spectacles, "sometimes that's not the case, and missions are just thrown at you. Also, we want our students here to be proficient in all kinds of Huntsmen and Huntress based actions. We want you to experience all that this career path has to offer. So…. You don't chose these missions, they are randomly assigned, and if the mission was the same type of what you performed last year, you were given another mission. Some are put into more danger, some were put into…. More domestic and domicile jobs. Not all huntsmen and huntresses fight on the battlefield.

"With that said, you have your training, as well as your professional. Rely on both. Some will even have TWO professionals with you," why did Jaune feel that he was being looked at? "That is all. The board will show your assignments." With that, the enigmatic headmaster left the microphone.

"Well… uh… that wasn't that uplifting, but… as we said, we have each other…" Jaune felt his nerves return to him.

"Nothing can beat what we experienced in Mulan." Pyrrha noted. "A Class M Grimm, just showing up out of nowhere?"

"That is correct," Ren noted, "students wouldn't be sent to something so dangerous. We should be fine, and while it was Goodwitch that fought it… you still survived." Ren patted Jaune on the shoulder. "You're going to be fine. You got us, and we got you."

Jaune loved his team. Maybe not romantically, but the way he was confident in them, and the way they were SOMEHOW confident in HIM? It was all he could've asked for when he snuck his way into Beacon.

They walked up to the board, and Jaune noticed Team RWBY beside them.

"A simple survey mission? Lame!" Yang exclaimed, "I want to beat up some Grimm, not just patrol an area!"

"…there may be Grimm in that area."

"Yeah, but there might not be? Remember what JNPR said about their survey mission?"

"…ahem." Jaune brought attention to himself as the team almost dissolved into bickering. "Well, it wasn't that boring. I mean… Grimm worshipers? That was freaky!"

"I have to admit, even I was unsettled," Ren added as Pyrrha wordlessly shivered.

"Yeah, but…. We don't get to kill them! Only… incapacitate them… I mean, I don't want to murder but… it feels so… SATISFYING to kill off evil, not… arrest it!" Yang looked flustered as she avoided digging herself into a hole as a sociopath.

"We get it." Jaune allowed Yang respite. "You want to fight monsters, not people."

"Yeah!" Yang pointed at Jaune, "Jaune gets it!"

"Well…. it's best we experience the job of a huntress that ISN'T mindlessly killing beasts." Weiss burst in.

Yang sighed, "true… hey, what did you guys get?"

"Well…. um…" Jaune returned to the board, looking for their name.

"We got an 'excursion' mission. We're scoping out an area to see if it's possible for habitation." Pyrrha, having already found it,pointing to it for both Ren and Jaune to read.

"Hm…. Not as deadly as Search and Destroy… still seems more exciting than ours." Yang moped.

"Yang!" Weiss criticized, "not all of a huntress's job is killing!"

"… you're making it seem more like a job."

"It IS a job!"

Jaune sighed as he left Yang and Weiss to their bickering. He had no interest in it.

"So…. We're supposed to be ready in an hour, and report to the bullhead docks?" Jaune asked Pyrrha.

"Yep!" Pyrrha re-affirmed, "Nora should be ready by then…."

"Were you guys talking about me?" Nora popped up out of nowhere, her backpack noticeably stretched wider. "Because if you are, I DEFINITELY only grabbed extra grenades. I did NOT get anything else!"

"…are you sneaking more candy with you?" Ren asked innocently enough.

"Uh….." Nora looked incredibly guilty of something, then again, Nora was usually guilty of something. "… I mean…. One candy bar shouldn't hurt right?" Jaune still noticed that Nora was still probably hiding something, but he decided against pursuing it further.

"Considering how much exercising we do, we can deserve one candy bar."

* * *

There was a reason Neo liked Torchwick. He may be a despicable criminal, but he was true to his word in most instances. At least, he was ALWAYS true to his word towards her.

Jaune was safe. That's all that mattered.

Also, Cinder, being to up herself to realize the possible betrayal, was still oblivious to the fact she was sabotaging her plans to kill one of the few people she liked.

She also started reconsidering her stance with the witch-like bitch. She started realizing that she sided with the lady only because Torchwick feared her. Her plan seemed cathartic to her, to unleash hell upon the world, and to possibly let the kingdoms crumble, but after that… Cinder refused to divulge. It was almost as if she, Torchwick, and maybe Mercury and Emerald were to be left by the wayside in her quest for ultimate destruction.

Why would one want ultimate destruction? Carnage is interesting to watch but the result was nothing! Even if power was gained there were mostly corpses than subjects to rule over. It made no logical sense…

She hated society. She hated most people. Yet mindless destruction wasn't on the top of her wish-list. Either Cinder was mad or was planning something that was more EVIL than actually a simple rebellion against society.

Neo had no plans of diverging yet, but she was watching closely. They would be arriving at Beacon, the point of conflict, soon enough. If she still thought that Cinder's plan wasn't the retribution she wanted for society, and merely an apocalyptic event just 'because,' then she would bail. She had the resources to do so, even without Torchwick.

She just had to wait and see.

* * *

Nora was excited. Even if their last mission didn't… go as expected, she was pleasantly surprised with the announcement. Missions were more exciting than classes, even in the survey variety.

Besides, a little bit of on-field bonding could just be what Pyrrha and Jaune needed, and if that didn't work out…

Well…. Nora WAS starting to see she and Ren as less than a possibility. She couldn't force feelings upon the boy she grew up with. And with her further bonding with her leader, along with the destiny they seem to share, Nora was starting to think of them together more….

But she was being silly! Even if her feelings for Jaune were more genuine than Pyrrha's, it still was a risk that Jaune himself wanted to avoid! How DARE she push Jaune into a situation like that? She was being selfish!

Still… she couldn't help but think about it.

However, she was going to put that behind her! Team JNPR was about to hit the field! An 'excursion' mission! Where they would scavange the wilderness to see if it was safe enough to colonize!'

If it was, they would pave the way for a future town to develop. If not….

NORA SMAAAASSHHHHH!

Besides, she snuck in her 'secret weapon' should things get too dangerous.

There was no way this mission could become miserable or awkward or…..

"… Oum my Monty." Pyrrha whispered, her voice hushed to the point of audible desperation.

"….What?... No… it can't be…" Jaune seemed to join Pyrrha in nerve-induced awe. Nora looked to see the two huntsmen who would accompany them. One man and one woman.

The two professionals walked up to them. "Hello!" Greeted the woman, "I am Lumen Arc! I'm here to make sure my widdle Jaune-y is safe!"

"And I'm Paris Nikos, and I'm pleasantly surprised who I get to see in action!"

Nora's eyes widened, as she looked at Jaune and Pyrrha, who remained still in absolute horror.

 _… Oh boy._

* * *

 **A/N: Once again, a short chapter after a long wait. I mean, it's principle reason of existence is to set up the next arc, which should be great fun!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Invite your Parents!**


	17. Pick of the Litter

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Ren quietly watched as his team-mates stood in understandable shock towards their professional huntsmen. There really should be a rule about partaking in a mission with a family member while attending Beacon. Agreed, a professional huntsmen with a personal interest in a student's survival might increase that SPECIFIC student's survival chances, there would be a bias. Either a positive bias or a negative one built on harsh expectations.

He felt pity, and was almost thankful for a moment that his biological parents were… well, unwilling to raise him. He had a long thought about it, and couple discussions with Nora. They were just sad people in a sad situation. It sucked that it affected him but… it was a hand they were dealt, and it was a hand he was dealt.

Besides, the alternative could've been THIS. He then heard the two team-mates in question start whispering to each other.

"Jaune."

"Yes, Pyrrha?"

"That's your mom?"

"Yup. And that's your Dad?"

"Yes."

"Did you know about this?"

"Would I have done nothing if I did?"

"….On a scale of one to ten, how screwed are we?"

"Only considering my father…. At least an 18."

"….Is he embarrassing? Because that's my Mom."

"More like… he's…. uh… intense."

"Towards you?"

"Towards everyone… and anyone I may have…. Wrote home about."

"What?"

"….Sorry."

"They're staring at us…. Are we whispering soft enough?"

"No." Paris Nikos sternly looked at the two students in front of him. "No you are not."

"Oh, Jauney's voice has always been on the loud side. Good thing too, one should never keep secrets from one's mother!" Lumen gave a bright smile in spite of her slightly aggressive voice as she walked forward. "Give your Mom a hug!" She enveloped him before Jaune gave any form of permission.

"Uhh heh heh heh, Mom! I… I thought you retired?"

Lumen let go. She was tall for a woman, around Jaune's height, though almost unnoticeably shorter. She had bright blonde hair and… one yellow eye and one blue eye? The woman blinked for Ren to see that they switched back to both being blue. She wore simple dark blue jeans, a purple collared shirt, and a white jacket. She exuded an air of friendliness but there was something… intimidating about her. Ren couldn't figure out what.

"Well, yes, I'm officially retired. But with my son going against family wishes and attending combat school anyway, I thought I'd see if my Jaune is in over his head!" _Oh yeah, Nora told me about this. Over-protective family, didn't give him training, Jaune found fake transcripts to get in anyway._

"I'm still attending after first year…"

"Hah! First year is barely anything. The fact you were assigned this mission is like the school is TRYING to kill you! Who in the right mind would try to colonize the tropical south-side of Vale?"

"Mom…." Jaune moaned, and Ren was surprised to hear Nora NOT giggle. Ren turned around to see Nora gazing intently at the two guides. Ren suddenly understood what she was doing…. She was waiting for the best time to introduce herself, if the situation got awkward…. Or, TOO awkward.

"Lumen, while we have just met," Paris jumped in, "I assure you that I would be enough to make sure your son doesn't get himself killed… My daughter has done just that during his time here."

"Really Pyrrha?" Jaune gave a dirty look to his partner, and not the type of dirty look Pyrrha would've liked.

"I… I'm sorry, I was just excited about my year and gave… some details."

Paris raised an eyebrow. He seemed a lot more ferocious than Lumen… or anyone else Ren had met for that matter. He was plated in shiny armor like Pyrrha, though it covered a lot more, and the jagged plating had what was practically acrylic artwork etched into it. His hair was clean cut, and his only facial hair was a chin beard that was neatly trimmed. His eyes were a dark forest green. He held himself with someone Ren could believably contribute to the man who raised the champion, Pyrrha Nikos.

"Don't worry, most of what she said was good." He then started walking towards Jaune. "Too good. And with all the good words, I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet the boy who's leading over my daughter, somehow, and that my daughter seems to have a great interest in-"

"NORAAAAAAA!" Nora then stepped in front of Jaune, her arms spread wide like she was trying to hug the very concept of existence. Her smile was stretched as far as possible. Ren could hear her strain out every ounce of welcoming happiness she was capable of. This was when Ren knew that Nora meant business.

"I mean… uh… Hi! I'm Nora!" She collapsed her arms to point jovially at herself. She then looked back at Ren. He didn't have enough time to desperately shake his head no before Nora grabbed him and forced him to join her in the hot-seat. "And this is Ren! We're your children's team-mates! Orphans under the care of the Government of Vale! We're so happy to meet you! Aren't we Ren?" When she turned to him, it was a desperate look of support. Ren couldn't say no.

"It is an honor to meet such respected huntsmen, and of course members of our team-mates families. As we don't have one, we consider this team as a family, and it is great to extend that." Ren looked at Nora, who, somehow, was literally GLOWING with pride. Must be something to do with electricity.

"I like you, Ren." Lumen pointed to the boy, "I love me some sap!"

Paris sighed, "Nora, while it is a pleasure to meet you… would you care not to interrupt me?"

"Well… uh…. I was just so eager to…."

"Stop this important discussion I'm having with your leader." Paris pointed at Jaune. It was a casual point, but with the size of his ornate gauntlet, it still looked challenging.

"Mmmmmaaayyb- IS MY FAVORITE MONTH!" _Nora… back off before you slip too far,_ Ren wished to communicate with her.

"Wait." Ren turned his attention towards a sudden firm voice from Lumen. "Jaune… you're the…. Leader? You… you were… you ARE… the leader?"

"Uh… heh heh heh," Jaune started aggressively scratching the back of his head, "I… uh… it slipped my mind?"

Paris scoffed, "with a name like Team 'JNPR' it should be obvious who the leader is, due to tradition…."

"He never even told me his team name!" Lumen's left eye suddenly turned yellow, and Jaune started tembling slightly. "Jaune Arc, why didn't-"

"BECAUSE HE DOESN'T LIKE MENTIONING IT!" Nora suddenly butt in once again. "I mean… he… uh…. Avoids talking about it because he's so nice that he views us all as equals?"

"Yeah! That's… that's why I wasn't comfortable…. Telling….."

"Jaune?"

"….yes Mom?"

"I'm so PROUD OF YOU!"

"Wait, what?…OH OUM ANOTHER HUG!"

Lumen Arc seemed to rival even Nora in the speed of delivery and the strength of enveloping. By just witnessing it, it was clear that any tighter would've suffocated the poor blonde. Paris seemed to watch unimpressed, as Nora looked at the huggers with… envy? Oh no…..

There's going to be a hug competition coming, isn't there?

Ren finally turned his attention to Pyrrha, who was just looking down in embarrassment. With Nora distracted and Pyrrha turned meek, it was probably up to him to get Mr. Nikos off his leader's back, at least for the moment.

It was a duty he will take…. But he wasn't happy with it.

"With all due respect, Mr. Nikos." Ren walked up to the tall, perfect mixture of brutish and elegant, man. "Wouldn't it be more appropriate to save your judgements for Jaune on the mission? I must admit, Jaune is not… impressive-looking off the battlefield. But I can assure you his competence as both leader and combatant are none to be ashamed of." Ren then softened his voice so only Paris could hear, "Even if your daughter's closeness isn't truly desired by you."

Paris raised an eyebrow. "Blunt, aren't you?"

"I'm not good with people, sir. Just formalities and telling the truth."

"Good. We'll get along fine then." Paris didn't smile, but gave a respectful nod. They both turned towards the rest of the team.

"You definitely should be proud of Jaune-y!" Nora was hugging Jaune, with a grip a King Taijutu would envy.

"Jaune, while I still disapprove, I am glad you are applying yourself! If you wish, I could put you in contact with your godfather! He was my leader at Atlas!"

"…I have a godfather?"

"He's very eccentric and… well… he MAY have done something… shady, but I trusted him as my leader, and I would trust him with my kids. He's currently the assistant headmaster of Atlas right now!"

"Dr. Pluto Glass was your leader?" Ren had studied a bit about the other academies in preparation for the Vytal festival, including the ones running it.

"Sounds like a horrible Reddie Murphy movie," Ren heard Nora mumble.

"That's the one!" Lumen nodded, "he's insane but he has a good heart. But! It's not time to talk about my academy experience, it's time to get a move on! The bullhead is waiting for us, I assume Paris will brief you as we arrive, oh, and sweetie…" Lumen knelt down to whisper something in Jaune's ear. Nora seemed to be listening.

"Oh, we are WELL aware of THAT, but don't worry! I have something that will make it better!"

"You do?" Lumen, Pyrrha and Jaune chimed in. Lumen and Pyrrha out of incredulity, and Jaune out of…. Was that…. Suspicion in Jaune's voice?

Paris sighed, "Mrs. Arc is right. The bullhead awaits us." He motioned towards the docks, everyone in a different pace. Nora pranced up to Ren and walked alongside him.

"What are we going to do?" Nora whispered to Ren.

"Simple. We do our duty. Slay Grimm."

Nora nodded.

"And look out for our team."

"Jaune's Mom seems friendly enough…. But Pyrrha's Dad…." Nora trailed off.

Ren shrugged. "I'm a little less worried about him. He seems like he'll act professional. He won't do anything too outrageous… I'm just nervous that Mr. Nikos might clue in Mrs. Arc that Pyrrha and he…. are…"

"Let's… let's avoid that." Nora nodded.

"I'll also avoid mentioning yourself too, y'know."

Nora heavily blushed, as Ren couldn't help but smile. He was kind of relieved that Nora had moved on from him, but… with Jaune… he couldn't help but be concerned. Pyrrha was already a problem.

But now they had to deal with his Mom… who definitely seemed overprotective.

"We'll play it by ear. If we can, we'll have to get in as much trouble as possible to avoid any slow, conversation moments."

Nora looked at Ren with surprise, "….get in as much trouble as possible… Ren… those words are so…."

"Nora-like?" Ren smirked.

"Beautiful…" Nora's smile was radiant as they entered the bullhead with the most awkward family meeting they have ever been in.

Nora seemed to mildly enjoy it.

* * *

Pyrrha was mentally dying inside. Father was here. _Father was here!_ This was bad. This was really, really, bad.

She loved her father, no doubt about it, but there was a reason she was glad Beacon didn't have parents week-ends or anything of the sort. (Possibly due to the fact many huntsmen/huntressed have dead parent(s) syndrome) Father was a loving, doting, and well-adjusted man towards her, however…. he didn't really give that off to people he thought weren't worth his time. While he wasn't disappointed in Pyrrha being elected leader, he respected she didn't want the position, to earn Father's confidence was about as easy as convincing Jaune to get a clue so they could start making out already!

….Uh…. she meant take it to the next level.

Also, while outside of training Father was a respectable and kind, if not laid-back, inside of training he was more heavily wound than what Pyrrha could imagine Nora did to wind-up toys as a kid… practically so high strung it's a miracle he wasn't broken. He would chastise any breach in form, and will always pump the Nikos mantra whenever Pyrrha started slacking off.

"Never Give Up! Never Surrender! Never Flee!"

He said it so often, whenever Pyrrha didn't feel confident in anything, she heard her father's voice echo in her head, barking that down her ear. It always drove her to face anything, and while it never resulted in her running into a situation that would obviously get her killed… she couldn't help but feel such a recurring thing to be almost unhealthy.

To be fair, he only started doing that when a young Pyrrha said, "I want to be a champion like Daddy!"

And 'daddy' made that wish come true. She couldn't argue with the results.

Still, she was past that now. While she was certainly out of her father's shadow (she sometimes wished she could slink back into it) she wanted not to separate from her father, but from the life she lived at home. Well-meaning, but lonely. Pushed to success and perfection on their terms, not her own. She wanted to see the world. She wanted to exist outside of her combat prowess. She wanted to be a huntress that didn't show off, but did her duty. She wanted to… start a family of her own, with a man she… well….

"Pyrrha, why are you holding your team-mate's weapon?" Father asked, not sternly but not warmly either.

Pyrrha sighed, and tossed Magnhild across the bullhead back to Nora. "It's a thing that happens."

"Apparently, your leader was doing the same thing as his mother started chatting up those Ren and Nora fellows…."

Oh yes, and to top it all off, Jaune's MOTHER was here as well. If anything made dealing with the boy you like, where your relationship was less "it's complicated" and more "it's frustrating," more horrifying than having your father present, it's the boy's MOTHER.

She didn't seem to intimidating, at least compared to her father. She seemed relaxed, open to talk, and seemed like the stereotypical _cool mom._ Not really that 'cool' as much as she wasn't some rule-focused stick in the mud.

Still… Jaune did NOT seem too comfortable having her around. It was one thing to be shrinking in embarrassment, it was another to openly avoid her gaze.

Which also was strange, considering that every once in a while, Jaune's Mom's left eye would spark yellow whenever she gazed over at Jaune. Like right now.

"You know what Pistachia did when you left? She practically had a PANIC attack that you would be thrusting yourself into danger, I had to tell her you'd be home soon! And when you didn't come back…"

"…sorry Mom… I just…"

"Wait wait wait… 'Pistachia?' Like 'Pistachio?' You said your eldest child's name was Vanilla…." Nora interrupted.

"Yes." Mrs. Arc seemed okay with giving some attention to Nora.

"And you had a pair of twins named Cream and…. Cookie?"

"That's also correct, glad you're paying attention."

"You named… all of your children after ice-cream?"

Mrs. Arc laughed, "Vanilla, Cookie & Cream, Rum-Raisin, Pistachia, and Toffee!"

"Hmmm" Nora squinted her eyes, and scratched her chin, "that explains Neeee-OTHING! Nothing at all! Like, is Jaune a flavor of ice cream I've never heard about!" Pyrrha could not explain the face palm Jaune gave as he muttered to himself.

"Oh, Noah and I agreed that he would name the sons, and I would name the daughters…. Turns out I was going to have more control. You should've seen him when Toffee was born, 'seven daughters! Like… is my DNA just… feminine?' If I wasn't so tired after giving birth for the eighth time I would've rolled on the floor laughing!" Lumen started chuckling happily.

"Seven daughters? You only mentioned six of-" Nora moved to cover Ren's mouth, but it was too late, Lumen heard it.

"Oh… uh, well, every family has a bad seed." Mrs. Arc shrugged, "I haven't forgotten about Neapolitan but, well… I just avoid mentioning her because her story is kinda complicated…"

"Glad I only had one daughter," Paris interjected, "made raising her easy and made sure she would be properly disciplined. Isn't that right?" _Oh yeah, I'm here too…._

"It… could've been cool to have siblings I guess, but… it certainly did allow for less, complications, I guess," Pyrrha mumbled.

"You can speak clearly Pyrrha, I raised you better than that." There was a friendly tap on her arm from Father's gauntlet.

"Oh, so you're one of those?" Lumen's attention turned towards her father with a raised eyebrow and a small frown, "some self-important 'I'm a great parent' types. Glad you have that much self-confidence."

"I should take pride in what I've accomplished. What she's accomplished!" He made a gesture towards her daughter, "what is the point of trying your best if you're not allowed to revel in your best…." Pyrrha felt her skin start to heat up as she drowned her head in her hands.

"Because when you boast about someone else in front of them like it's your doing, you'll make that person either indignant or uncomfortable…" Lumen leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms.

Father groaned, "that's not what I meant… I mean… I'm just really proud of my daughter, and I pride myself for allowing her to reach such success." Father leaned in to Pyrrha's ear, "sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable."

"It's okay…." Pyrrha said, loud enough so everyone can hear and it wouldn't be considered mumbling.

"Uhg, every day I'm reminded why I left this business…" Lumen sighed as she laid back. "Now Jaune, are you SURE you aren't feeling sick? Because I know when you're lying to me."

"Trust me, I can't believe it myself," Jaune sighed. Pyrrha noticed he gave an… accusatory(?) glance at Nora, who seemed to sheepishly grin at it. _Uhg, when did they become so close? It was supposed to be Jaune and her, then Ren and Nora. Why is Nora doing this to me?_

"So… you, a leader of a team… normally can't travel via the air, the most common transport in all of remnant without… vomiting?" Father leaned in, sizing up Jaune with his eyes.

"Oh please, it's a more common than people realize." Mrs. Arc poo-pooed as she waved it off, "Noah has a habit of getting sea-sick, Jaune just happened to get the air version. Poor boy…"

"I'm right here Mom…" Jaune groaned.

"Oh! You're groaning, are you going to be sick?"

"Not in the way you think I will…" Jaune sunk into his hands.

 _Trust me, Jaune. I understand._ Pyrrha tried to give Jaune a 'we're in this together' look, but Jaune seemed to avoid looking at anybody: even her.

Pyrrha sat back in her chair and decided she would get better comfort from the ceiling, arcing her neck up to stare into the shuddering metallic cage she was trapped in with her favorite people in the world… and Jaune's mother.

"So…. I was in detention right? And Weiss was…." Pyrrha heard Nora start.

"Wait…. Why were YOU in detention?" Her father interrupted. "I should be aware of any… behavioral issues with people I'm helping train."

"Oh shut it, they're kids, getting in trouble is half the fun of growing up!" Mrs. Arc defended.

"They're the future protectors of our world; discipline is an important virtue to instill…"

"I see the appeal, but is she your kid? No. Then it's none of your business."

"She's not yours!"

"Yeah, but I have something called empathy."

 _And his mother and my father are fighting…. I'm not suicidal, so my question is… does this bullhead have parachutes?_

"…I just wanted to tell a funny story…" Nora audibly and guiltily mumbled.

"Woof!"

….did she just hear a woof?

* * *

"So that's why when I farted, it sounded like a dog!" _Perfect! They'll totally buy that!_

"….o….kay." Ren was the only one to justify that with a response, as all others looked at her like an alien. _All according to plan!_

They disembarked off the bullhead in a designated clearing, surrounded by the thick jungle before them. The humidity in the air made it an effort to breathe in, almost as if she required gills. The heat also made itself known, sweat already appearing on her brow.

"I had no idea there was anything this tropical in Vale." Jaune huffed out

"Well, this area is near the Mistral border and is laced with rivers…. Humidity, rich soil…. Lends itself to a biome such as this. There's a lot in less developed areas of Mistral as well." Pyrrha seemed more accustomed to the climate, only looking mildly flushed. Paris also seemed to be handling it well too.

Ren already seemed to pull out sunscreen, dabbing it on his face.

"You are aware that aura protects from UV light damage, right Ren?" Paris seemed to look at Nora's good friend with a little bit of skepticism.

"I know that…. But it'll keep me cool. I… I don't do well in hot temperatures."

"Same. Pass that over here Ren." Lumen extended her hand, and Ren obliged, placing it with a resounding slap of bottle plastic to skin. Jaune's mother then squirted some contents on her other hand and started rubbing her face with it.

Paris scoffed, "I guess Atlesians are ill equipped to scout tropical territory. You know originally you weren't on this mission." He posed like this was a big reveal. He then seemed disappointed that no one gasped or started accusing her.

"She literally said she came out of retirement to keep an eye on me… no one is surprised by that." Jaune sighed. Nora couldn't help but giggle at Jaune's trace of snark. The way Paris's face seemed to redden ever so slightly, and eyes minutely widen from a restrained expression of indignation. The way his gauntlets seemed to curl in practically microscopic motion.

Those that held dignity the closest often lost it the most easily.

The man eventually sighed, "well. I guess it's time for the debriefing. This clearing was found using the Government Endorsed Territory Surveying and Township Data Supplier, or the G.E.T.S.T.D.S., for short."

"Get STDs? Is that really a source of trustworthy information if their name is 'Get STDs?'" Nora couldn't help but remark. A ruffle in her backpack gave her all the confirmation she needed that her joke was awesome. Also the chuckles that were given by everyone except Pyrrha and Paris, though Nora could visibly see she was trying to stifle her own. Paris however…

"Don't, interrupt me again young lady. You are here to learn how to be a professional." The tall, broad shouldered man walked closely to Nora, bending his head down so his dark forest eyes looked directly into _her_ turquoise ones, "so act professional."

"Woof." Zwei then popped out of Nora's pack, a light growl coming from its cute widdle corgi muzzle. _Wait, oh shit._

"Look! My fart MADE a dog too!" _Okay, even I have to admit that is stretching it._ The sound of Jaune's face palm practically caused a sonic wave; the self-induced slap snapping through the trees surrounding them, jostling the birds and causing them to fly away.

"You are going on a very dangerous mission exploring the wilderness for nightmarish creatures of Grimm. We are going to be travelling many miles through this jungle, which is hundreds of miles from any concept of civilization. We are going to be rationing food and supplies, to maintain our bodies but also to save some for emergencies. This mission was going to reflect your future as a Huntress.

"And you," Paris Nikos concluded, "brought a dog?"

"Uh…." Nora shrugged her shoulders as Zwei panted behind her, "Genius?"

"No! Idiotic and childish more like! Will this dog have any, ANY use outside of being a liability!"

"You know Paris…" Nora raised her hand.

"It's Commander Nikos to you, child."

"Dad, stop…" Pyrrha put her hand on her father's shoulder, which he shrugged off, "Nora does stuff like this all the time. It's no big deal."

"THIS is the team you spoke so highly of?" He turned his head sharply to face his daughter, who shrunk back slightly. He started gesturing to her team in a single, sweeping motion. "An… admittedly competent looking man, but this child, and that sorry excuse for a huntsman as a leader!" He closed his hand into a fist. "I thought my daughter had better judgement. And you PURPOSELY teamed yourself up with that clown?"

"What did I say about waiting till you see us on the field?" Ren was visibly holding…. LUMEN back? Holy crap did she look PISSED, she kinda wanted Ren to let the retired huntress loose.

Then again, having their guides fight didn't seem that smart…. But it would be SO AWESOME!

Paris gave Ren an intense glare, then bowed his head and sighed. "My apologies, but Nora," he returned his sharp glare to her, "I have half a mind to send you home with the dog, while the grown-ups handle the…"

Ren suddenly stepped in between herself and Paris. "That suggestion applies to Nora as well. I purposely teamed up with her as Pyrrha did Jaune, because I know what she's like in action. More than I've seen of you."

The only sound after that was of the bugs buzzing and chirping.

 _Ren…. even if your real balls are small…. Your metaphorical ones are soooo huge!_ Nora's mouth was agape, but Pyrrha's jaw hit the floor.

Paris's jaw seemed to ram up into his face, as his eyebrows furrowed as his dark green eyes seemed to darken even further into a haunted night-time forest.

"Oh, enough of the pissing contest between teens and a grown ass man." Lumen spoke up, "look, I have the mission debriefing as well." Lumen pulled out a piece of paper, "the Get STDs wants us to see if this clearing as the potential for starting ground for a new colony. We'll start with standard excursion protocol, nothing really special about this mission. Except for the dog. We will start circling around the clearing in a spiral path formation, looking for any un-manageable populations of Grimm that would be unfeasible for a colony to deal with. If we can wipe it out, we do so. If it seems more like an ever-present problem that can't be cleared out reasonably, we inform that colonization here would be a high risk and would require a mass amount of huntsmen to oversee the process. Let's go!" Lumen pulled out what seemed to be a long fencing foil with an absurdly large pommel and grip, and pointed a direction.

Pyrrha hurriedly followed Lumen, and Ren grasped Nora by the shoulder to join him in doing the same. Jaune seemed to linger a bit…. Standing and facing Papa Nikos, and then turned around and joined Ren and Nora.

"Nora… is that Team RWBY's dog?" Ren asked in a hushed tone.

"….He looked desperate for a fun time?" Nora nervously smiled, glancing at Jaune for support.

"Nora… can we… Ren, do you mind if I have a moment alone with Nora?"

"I understand," Ren rushed forward into the jungle, catching up to Pyrrha and Lumen. Nora turned to face Jaune as he turned his back to see that Paris hadn't budged from his position.

"Nora, what the hell are you thinking? Why did you take Zwei?"

"Because the last time we went out on a mission, a Slaggeater came for us. Out of nowhere. Out of place. You can't tell me that it's 'just a coincidence.'"

"I know but, we could just get close and bring the dog to us! Why did you take it with us by default!"

"Because I KNOW we'll need him and I don't want to be making out with you with Pyrrha around!"

"…m-m-making out?"

"I MEAN!..." Nora sighed, "whatever we do will be LIKE making out to Pyrrha considering how everything's been! Look, I'd rather look like an idiot who stole someone's dog than someone who is using this mission to get close to a leader who is available for rebound."

"That… that makes no sense!"

"That's because you're a guy!" Nora flicked Jaune on the forehead. "Besides, I understand Zwei is FAST, but fast enough to catch us in trouble THIS far away from Beacon? Mulan is relatively close by and it took a good seven minutes to get there! How long would it take to get all the way to… WHEREVER this is! By the time we realize we need him, it will be too late. We have to have him on call NOW."

"Okay, that makes a lot more sense…"

"I was admittedly making up my reasons on the fly. Honestly I just wanted to take Zwei with us… maybe we could continue his training here when everyone else is asleep!"

Jaune sighed, "then just stay away from Commander Nikos… like me…"

Nora looked back as he was eventually regaining composure, "seems like a real dick."

Jaune shrugged, "he's probably just annoyed that her 'perfect' daughter is stuck with us."

"That's EXACTLY what he said!"

"Look, let's just follow his lead. Anyone who trained Pyrrha Nikos has GOT to know a thing or two."

"And you're mother?..."

Jaune shuddered, "whatever you do, don't look her directly in the eyes if she has a reason to be cross with you."

"Why?"

"Just don't."

"Really, you're not going to tell me?…"

"You didn't tell me you were bringing Zwei… besides, it's fun for people to ignore that advice out of curiosity and regret it. I'll just say… when I learned of aura and semblance, my mom made a LOT more sense…."

Nora playfully punched Jaune in the arm, which Jaune reciprocated by activating his semblance, making a playful _gong_ sound. Nora couldn't help but giggle.

"Woof."

"What are you two still talking about?" Paris seemed to have regained his composure.

"Properly disciplining my team-mate and waiting for you sir, since your expertise is much needed."

Paris looked down on Jaune. "One, that should be a given. Two, flattery gets you nowhere in life. Let's rejoin the group."

Paris made haste to catch up to the distancing Lumen, Ren, and Pyrrha. Jaune and Nora meekly followed the man who's gait demanded all the respect in the world.

Still, Nora couldn't help but notice. "Hey Commander, your fly is down!"

* * *

 _These kids seem nice. A little… boring but that seems more like they are trying to do things the 'Paris' way. Hell, Umber barely said anything but he wasn't boring to anyone on Team PLUM. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt._ Lumen Arc didn't desire to be a huntress anymore, but to say she looked at her school days with disgust would be totally misunderstanding her current resentment with the occupation.

It wasn't her years in school…. It's what happened to those AFTER school.

No one in her own team was dead, thank Oum, but one was missing…. So might as well be dead.

"So… Mrs. Arc…" the one called Pyrrha spoke up, "do you… do you know who I am and… who my father is?"

"Considering the way he acts, I assume he's some kind of hotshot somewhere right, and you following in his footsteps?" Pyrrha meekly nodded. _Poor girl._ "No, I don't. I only really know movie stars and the people my old school-mates tell me about. And the headmasters. Other than that… no, I don't know you."

"Thank Oum…" Pyrrha let out in relief, before immediately repositioning herself, "not that I don't want you to NOT know who I am, I have nothing to be ashamed of, it's just I… uh…"

The boy named Ren stepped up, "she doesn't like being recognized. The reason she intentionally teamed up with your son is because he didn't recognize her."

"Oh…. Really?" Lumen raised an eyebrow at Pyrrha. "Well, from what your father said, you've saved my son's life on many occasions so… for that I have to thank you. Anything else you did means nothing to me."

Pyrrha seemed taken aback, "It was my pleasure, Jaune has proven himself to be a great leader and the backbone to the team."

"Heh…. Anyone can be a leader if it's asked of him or her… but I appreciate the sentiment. Speaking of Jaune." Lumen looked above Ren and Pyrrha to see Paris making haste with large strides, with Nora and Jaune tagging along.

"I was just trying to help!" Nora seemed to be calling towards the stuck up douchebag…. His personality reminded him of what Pluto ranted to her about Wagner Schnee. Uptight, Self-Important. Facial Hair that is well trimmed but with no decency to shave it off.

This wasn't going to be pleasant.

"It's armored plating, it doesn't have a fly!"

"Well, the way the sun hit off of it…" Nora seemed to reason to a claim Lumen never heard her make.

"Don't keep testing me child…" Paris seemed to grit his teeth.

"Woof!"

Lumen looked down to see a corgi panting at her legs. Lumen smiled, knelt down and petted the creature. "So, what's this little thing's name?"

"It's Zwei!" Nora walked up to Lumen to join her in petting the corgi. "Isn't he cute?"

"He is cute… not sure how much use he'll be in these dangerous wilds but… he'll be a good morale booster." Lumen stood up and looked at Jaune, who still seemed to be ignoring her gaze. _…I did use my semblance WAY too much in disciplining him didn't I?… damn it… parenting is so much easier in hindsight._

"A good expedition doesn't need a specific 'morale booster,' they just need to focus on their soul and aura to find the strength they need to do the things they must do." Paris lectured.

"So…. Is your weapon a stick drenched in mud?" Verbal sparring with the much more sarcastic Pluto prepared Lumen for whatever asshole annoyed the hell out of her.

"No, it's not." Seemingly ignoring the insult, Paris unsheathed a massive sword, practically the length of his full body. It then expanded until the blade was about as wide as Jaune shoulder to shoulder, and then Paris hooked it up to his right arm. "A Great-sword that turns into a Great-shield. Ultimate offense and ultimate defense."

Lumen could hear her son gulp. Lumen just rolled her eyes, "you can always tell when someone's compensating for something."

"Lumen… if you are going to accompany me in training these students, then I demand even MORE from you in the way of professionalism!"

Lumen laughed, "I'm no huntress, not anymore, but I don't think you work with others that often. What's the point of risking your life if you don't live while doing it?" Lumen shrugged, "a majority of them follow that mantra. Clearly you spend too much time in the arena with its formalities and not out here."

"I'm not asking them to be robots… I'm asking them to steel themselves so they DON'T die. What's the point of living life if you're going to throw it away?"

"Hmm, now I know why your daughter gravitated towards my Jaune…"

"..what are you saying?"

"Uh…" Jaune stepped between her and the man she was having fun with…. Wow, that sounded creepy. "Maybe you can have this conversation when we camp out? You know… when we are settling down and you could banter about our performance in private… away from us?"

"Woof" Zwei… agreed?

Paris sighed, "well, at least I see that as a good judgement call Jaune. And you Lumen?"

"Well… Jaune is the boss!" Lumen reached up and started rustling Jaune's hair, much to his humorous displeasure. "I guess our job is to guide them so… yeah Jaune, lead the way!"

"…you're trusting me?"

Lumen heaved a heavy sigh, "it's your life to do with, and right now your life is asking you to lead your team." Jaune nodded, and started giving orders, though thankfully not barking them, to his team…. He was growing up.

She was proud but… she KNEW he was going to be hurt. It was inevitable. If not literally, emotionally. And if not today, tomorrow.

This wasn't the life she wanted for her son… but her son was too stubborn. He found a way to cheat his way into Beacon, and clearly improvised to ensure his own survival. She didn't know how he got in, and what he did to survive, unless if Pyrrha clearly WAS the only thing that saved his life.

"Woof!"

Lumen looked down to see the dog, the one Nora brought along. Paris did go overboard, but she did see his point. Bringing a dog here was immature and stupid, representative of a naiveté that cute things cannot die….

Friends can't hurt each other. A person you respected not going down a destructive path. Another person you respected seizing Mantle for the power of Atlas. And many other people you had had conversations with and shared jokes with, dead.

She looked at the dog again… only to see its eyes looking different. One white eye glowing, the other black eye darkling.

She blinked, and it was no more… maybe her own lopsided eyes were messing with her.

* * *

The beast was stronger, she could feel it. They had been training it. Its abilities, while not at full power, and a sizeable strength that she could no longer take lightly.

The jungle had some Grimm. Some King Taijutus here and there. A Deathstalker. Some Gryphons flying through the trees…. But she needed more.

And she will bring more. More and more and more until those two fools kneeled before her, faces bloody and marred in tears as they begged forgiveness.

Salem looked through the lenses of her servants.

"I'll just have to find a way to split them up…."

* * *

 **A/N: Fave! Follow! Review! Fart Out a Dog!**


	18. Being Hounded

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

He didn't think Paris liked him. Sorry, Commander Nikos. It didn't seem to be an air of disgust more so… disappointment. _This is the man my daughter fought for? This is who she has a clear crush on? This guy? Where did I go wrong?_ That, at least, was what Jaune thought the man was thinking.

Pyrrha didn't open up much about her past, recalling her parents with fondness, but with not many details. All Jaune knew was that it was her father that trained her, as he was a former champion himself, and his mother was a regular person that Commander Nikos courted. Apparently, he unlocked HER aura, as a symbol of devotion…. Jaune often wondered how he never realized when Pyrrha told him THAT story that Pyrrha had a crush on him. He was probably thinking if he could do something similar he could do for Weiss…. _Wow Jaune, why isn't the Commander just SHOWERING you with praise right now?_

So it wasn't that he looked down on people with no combat skills…. Just that he looked down on them leading her daughter in a team of huntsmen where he must be relied upon for those skills her father so clearly admired. It made sense to Jaune that he would be… underwhelmed.

It also didn't help that he and her mother weren't getting along. Due to a desire to NOT get intimate with Pyrrha, as much as it tempted him to this day, he wasn't truly devastated. He didn't NEED his parents to get along with her parents. Heck, it might even HELP his cause. But that wasn't what worried him.

He felt no need to prove himself to Commander Nikos, but he did feel the need to have a stable environment for his team to conduct the mission, and the fact that his mother had to butt in like this, and start raising conflict with who was supposed to guide them solo was NOT providing that. That and the way Mom was acting was starting to poorly be traced back to HIM. He didn't need approval… but it WOULD be nice.

"So," Ren, of all people, searching for conversation, "are you the Arc? Or is…"

"Noah is the Arc, 'the great family name, eons of generations that protected Remnant' yada yada yada, Noah thinks it's overblown too."

"Then why did you take the name?"

Lumen snickered, turning to the normally quiet man, "my 'maiden' name is 'la Seine,' it only takes fifty times being called 'Lumen the Insane' for it to get old. And I could imagine it could get old for my children I planned to have if they took my name, so, I went traditional and took the Arc name. Haven't been called 'insane' since!"

Commander Nikos seemed to mutter something, and Jaune decided to take the Commander's mind off of something other than what he thinks of his mother. "So… did your wife take your name?"

The Commander looked at Jaune, the forest-green eyes sizing him up, as it did every single time his gaze came his way. "Yes. She did. Her maiden name wasn't so… bad, but she enjoyed the tradition. She thought sharing my family name brought her closer to me." The man gave a faint smile. "Penelope is quite a woman, I'm lucky to have her." The smile went away, "and if I ever questioned that luck, or took that luck for granted…" He started staring deep into Jaune's eyes. _I… don't like where this is going._

Apparently, neither did Nora, who suddenly zipped in between Jaune and the Commander. "So, Paris!"

"…Commander Nikos…"

"What should we be looking for? I mean, I trust Jaune more than my own father that I never met," Nora suddenly got really close, hanging off his shoulder, "but he, like us, hasn't really been on that many missions, so… is there like trails or footprints we should be spotting? Should we be sniffing the trees?" Nora zoomed over, aggressively and audibly sniffing a random tree. "Should we be making sloth calls to alert Grimm to our presence? OR!" Nora zipped back to her original position, "get reeeaaal sad so the Grimm think we're nice and tasty, and then we PULVERIZE them!"

"We walk, we keep to the spiral formation, and we stay observant." Commander Nikos stated, his face twitching as Nora continued to zip and zoom and blur around him with her most unserious 'I'm serious' face she could muster. Jaune couldn't help but audibly laugh.

"You think that that kind of behavior is funny?" Jaune felt his spine thrust himself upwards with a tangible chill as the Commander challenged his sense of humor.

"To be honest… yes. If the Grimm feast on sadness and despair, Nora is our best bet to not be over-run."

Paris's… COMMANDER NIKOS'S grunted, "I guess children will be children, I shouldn't presume to rob someone of their innocence. Grimm may be attracted to negative emotions, but happy emotions don't help that much."

Jaune had a feeling the guy would say something condescending and depressing like that. Why was he even trying?... Still, maybe he could get some depressing wisdom, might as well learn from the misery. "What do you mean by that?"

"We are at our weakest when, at our happiest, something goes wrong, and the absence of such joy destroys us. At home or among friends we can revel and let our happiness be our full being, but on the field, it is most secure to be calm, be determined, and to simply be content."

"... and you wonder why I suggested against this career." Mom added, apparently hearing the whole thing. "Seriously, Paris, you start fondly talking about your wife only to suddenly start saying 'you can't be happy while on a mission.'"

The Commander sighed, "I'm simply informing your son of what is the most secure mindset while on the field. Did I tell him to be glum and humorless? No. The field is just no place for it."

"So you're intentionally an asshole while hunting or competing, but outside you're just all smiles and compliments?"

"Mom….. just stop, please?" Jaune pleaded with her mother, as she turned to him and gave him a look. Which was fine, as long as it wasn't THE look. Jaune hated THE look. Mom was, when not discouraging his dreams to be a huntsman, a fairly relaxed individual. But THAT look could….

"Listen to your son, Lumen. I assume it's been a while since you've been a huntress, it's clear you are out of your depth." _Oh Oum and I thought Paris was the rational one._

Lumen's gaze left Jaune as she put all of her attention on Paris, and started walking towards him. _Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no._

"You think I should be afraid of you Paris?" Mom seemed more annoyed than angry. "My partner was and still is one of Atlas's most dangerous intellects and fearsome fighters. My husband was highly regarded at Beacon and probably retired out of PITY for the creatures of Grimm. As for me I witnessed the fall of Mantle. I've done my fair share of missions and would've made quite a body count if Grimm's bodies remained. And, most impressively, I've raised EIGHT KIDS! Two of which have knowingly rebelled against me." Mom walked right up to Commander Nikos, giving a challenging glare, "so look me in the eyes and answer my question. Do you think I should be afraid of you Paris?"

 _'Look me in the eyes?'_ "Pa-… Commander Nikos, don't-"

"You shouldn't be afraid of me, you should be respec-" suddenly that damned left eye glowed a vibrant golden yellow, "-GAAAAAHHHHHH!" The Commander let out an amazingly feminine scream as he lurched back, tripped over a branch, and landed with a squishy thud into the moist earth. He scuttled back up, breathing heavily, his hand over his heart.

"Well, you SHOULD be afraid of me." Lumen smirked, winked at Jaune, then winked at Pyrrha, who was standing in shock at witnessing her father just make a fool of himself. Jaune wasn't so surprised, so when his mother turned around to continue walking forward, Jaune went over to help the huntsman up.

Zwei was licking the hand he placed on the ground when he got to him. "That's her semblance," he simply stated as he offered his own hand to the man. "Made breaking the rules… interesting, to say the least."

"I saw…. I saw… No… I… felt…."

"Yeah…. I don't know how it works. Dad just always explained that Mom had an 'Evil Eye.' When I learned of aura, it made a lot more sense." He motioned to his hand. The Commander looked at it for a moment, then looked at Zwei currently licking continuously his own hand. He let out an annoyed grunt, and lifted himself off the ground with his own two feet. Jaune returned his hand to his side as the man stood up, attempting to reclaim his pride.

"And she criticizes my parenting…" He muttered, and Jaune let out a chuckle.

"It's not THAT bad, she can control how 'Evil' it is…. most of the time we just got a shiver down our spine… when she was REALLY mad with us though…. It'd be like that."

Paris shook, still struggling to regain composure. He then turned to look at Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora staring at them. Lumen was still walking ahead, soft laughing still audible from her.

"I…" he let out a huge sigh, "… must recall she, while retired, is a huntress too… at least she isn't a drunk." He then walked forward, trying to match the prideful stride he wielded just a couple moments ago.

Pyrrha shuffled to Jaune, "your Mom can do THAT?"

"Thought any Mom could do that. Eventually you learned to avoid staring into her eyes, there needs to be direct eye contact for it to work."

"Make anyone… and potentially anything… insanely frightened… so frightened that fight or flight shuts down and all you could do is panic." Ren mused. "Nora, should we feel lucky we don't HAVE any actual parents?"

"I think we should." Nora and Ren high fived. "But seriously, Jauney, are you like… well adjusted, or…"

"Remember what I said Nora, no one had perfect childhoods." Jaune shrugged. Did Jaune approve of his mother's actions? Hell no. He didn't approve of her being here in the first place. However, parents often made their kids fear them, his mother just had a trick up her sleeve… or eyeball. And she rarely used the EXTREME version…. Only twice was it ever used on him. Once when he was caught perusing a shopping catalog…. A specific shopping catalog…. A shopping catalog that he found hidden in Vanilla's closet, when she had her first serious boyfriend… His early teenage mind had no IDEA so much skin could be shown without being fully nude. It was after that he learned that he should just not get caught.

The other time… was when he told his parents he was going to Beacon.

They tried to scare him out of it… or at least his mom did. To be honest if he learned that he was going to be launched into the Emerald Forest before they even began he probably would've bailed. Thankfully he was an ignorant idiot at the time and his cluelessness lent him salvation via spear-head.

"Okay, well as long as you are okay." Pyrrha and Nora looked at each other as they said the same thing. Jaune chuckled as Ren dipped his head.

"Pyrrha, Nora, make sure our guides don't kill each other, okay?" Jaune suggested.

Pyrrha nodded as Nora saluted, and they rushed over ahead of Ren and Jaune to join up with the Commander and Jaune's Mom. Jaune sighed relief as he knew the inevitable 'Mom shows off her semblance moment' was behind him.

"Not sure if I'm okay with your mother doing that, even if you are 'fine.'" Ren walked up to Jaune, as they themselves started walking forward.

"Well…. she bakes good cookies."

"Cookies don't cure all wrongs…" Ren then smiled, "pancakes do."

"You and Nora with your pancakes," Jaune sighed, as they continued walking through the dense, humid jungle.

* * *

Nora didn't know she would miss cafeteria food that much. In their previous mission, they were in a village, which had diners, restaurants, or some street vendor heating meat of questionable quality.

All they were having were pre-packaged sandwiches that were mushy, overdone with cheap condiments, and ham that tasted less like a delectable slice of piggy goodness and more like…. A pitiful excuse for protein.

She sat cross legged, occasionally tearing off pieces of bread and giving it to Zwei, who sat loyally at her feet. "You know…." she whispered, "… can you like… make food with your powers or something?"

"Woof."

"We're going to work on that next training session." Nora took another unsatisfied bite out of the sandwich, as she started surveying her company. Ren and Jaune were contentedly talking amongst themselves, Pyrrha was meekly sitting with her father, and Lumen was… sitting right next to her. … staring at her…. uh…. "Hi?"

"Hello Nora."

"…so… what's up?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Lumen leaned back onto a tree. "You see, I don't think my son will answer my question honestly. And his partner certainly wouldn't either. And Ren seems like the type to say, 'it's not my business to say.'"

"And that question is?"

"I'm also glad you asked that!" Lumen gave a smile, "so…." Her voice lowered, as she leaned in closer. "What's the deal with him and Pyrrha?"

Nora lurched back so quickly that Zwei barked at the sudden movement, before prancing off into the jungle to pee… or something. "Well… uh… it's a funny story."

"I bet it is."

"But it's…"

"I'm also wondering about him and you."

"OKAY THAT WAS!... I mean…" Nora looked around to see that attention had gone her way, most people raising their eyebrows. "It's okay, I asked her to hit me with all she got… you know… with the eyeball…. That thing… yeah."

As everyone eventually shrugged and continued focusing on whatever they were doing, Nora returned to Lumen, who was giving a small clap. "Nice save."

"Look, I understand that I seem all too eager to blab about my team-mates, you underestimate the steel I have in my loyalty towards them…. Also I have NO idea what you're talking about with me and Jaune. We're team-mates and good friends!"

Lumen laughed, "yeah, sure Anise…. I mean Nora." Lumen took a bite of her sandwich, chewing it while not having her gaze leave Nora, and she swallowed. "You think because you aren't as obvious as Pyrrha that people can't notice… well, for the most part you're right… but I'm a MOM, Nora…."

"Don't have one, Lumen, and if I had any romantic feelings towards your son, you'd be the first to know."

Lumen shook her head, continuing her mischievous chuckling, "no, Ren would. Besides, the way you always happen to swoop in whenever Paris is getting on my son's case… you're faster than me, I'm impressed. Also, I noticed that hug you gave him at Beacon, trying to one up me… for some reason."

"I… I do those things as a friend."

"Maybe…. But the fact you are blushing right now confirms my suspicions." Lumen smirked as Nora dropped her sandwich to feel the sudden burning warmth that was her face at the moment. "So…. Tell me about Pyrrha and Jaune, or I'll tell Jaune about you."

"Well…. uh…" Nora did NOT want to rat out her second best friends in the world. But… wow, she thought PARIS was the butt-boy of the guides… turns out Lumen wasn't much better! The hounding instinct of a mother when he sees his boy with two girls on his team, who BOTH seem to be overly friendly with him…. It was cruelty! _Cruelty I tell you!_

Suddenly the jingling of a collar brought Nora back from lamenting how she'd been had by a middle-aged woman. Zwei arrived with a black thing in his mouth, it was squirming and hissing and clicking and… bleeding slightly. Just like Nora's pride.

"Is that?…. Holy shit." Lumen seemed to forget about hounding Nora and walked over to the dog. "Spit it out." The dog obeyed, the grotesque object dripping with dog drool and its own blood. "Paris, Jaune… everyone, really. You're going to want to see this." Lumen called out, standing up and holding the creature by its end.

It looked like a gorged tick, its stumpy legs desperately flailing over its fat and gluttonous body. Its head was covered with the well-known white plating, and those trademarked red eyes.

"A Parasite…" Paris whispered, "well, huntsmen and huntresses, we have our first Grimm, and… well, it's a concerning one."

"Really?" Nora looked at the helpless looking blob of evil incarnate, "it looks just like your standard bug to me… I don't even need Magnhild to smash it."

"Parasites are individually weak in terms of resilience, yes… but the damage they can cause." Paris grabbed it out of Lumen's hand, threw it on the ground, and crunched it with a mighty stomp of his armored boot. "We're going to have to find the nest and destroy it, you CAN'T have a colony with those things running around."

"What can they do?" Jaune asked, Paris sighed, motioning to Pyrrha.

"Well… uh… we haven't covered them in Grimm Studies yet." Pyrrha meekly replied.

"Really? I would've thought you'd had studies the Grimm types on your own when you decided to become a huntress, that's what I did when I went to Haven…"

"Parasites," Ren started, "are bug-like Grimm that are easily killed. However, if they sneak up on you, then they can leave a nasty bite that could penetrate through aura, and corrupt you with a nasty ailment. If you DON'T have an aura, the bite can have MORE deadly, rumored to be able to suck out your weakened soul, killing you, and possibly inheriting your semblance. They have a tendency to attack individually, but they are birthed in a nest that usually can create a steady slew of them if left unchecked and undestroyed."

"See, your team-mate did it, maybe you should focus less on letting your leader catch up and actually focus on yourself." Pyrrha, for the fifty sixth time that day, Nora was counting, bowed her head and meekly apologized. It's not like she'd had enough… she just thought that she should say something.

"Oh c'mon Captain Nicky!"

His head turned, with a fatigue brought by forgotten expectations, "….Commander Nikos…"

"Why does SHE have to be perfect in everything? Ren here is the reader, Pyrrha is the fighter, Jaune is the leader, and I am NORA!" She ended it with a happy point towards herself, "Why be perfect alone when you can be perfect as a team!" She zipped over to Ren and Pyrrha, dragging them into her armpits as she still gave that stupid little grin that melted even the most stalwart of sourpusses. "Besides, Ren was inspired to be a huntsman by reading all the subject-related books in our town's library, he already has all the info we'd need!"

Paris sighed, as Pyrrha continued not to say anything. _C'mon Pyrrha! Nothing? Nothing at all? I have to do all the work here? Yeesh, your father isn't THAT scary…._ Nora looked at that stern glare he received from the commander. _I mean, I wouldn't HUG the guy but he is LITERALLY encased in metal, you could move that guy like a puppet on strings if you had to!_

"What Nora is trying to say," Nora heard Jaune speak up, "is we complement each other, rather than try to attain some level of perfection for ourselves. When one member of Team JNPR succeeds, we all succeed."

"Are you just saying that because, on your own, you're rather weak?"

"Oh get off our case Commander Nikos." Nora defended.

"Commander Nik…. Wait, you said it right?"

"This is getting nowhere," Lumen started, stepping in the middle of the group, "Huntsmen don't win with words… unless if it's open mic at the Atlesian bars. Jaune, we have a situation, what's the battle-plan?"

"Oh uh…" Nora studied the way that Jaune's face moved while he thought. It never ceased to amaze her how so many brilliant ideas could come from such a stupid looking face. It took a couple moments, but Jaune finally spoke up.

"We need to keep on the spiral path formation, in order to see if there are other Grimm populations that must be dealt with. However, we must find this… nest that Ren talked about. Where was the Parasite found?"

"Zwei found it," Nora pointed in the direction Zwei came back in. "He returned from there."

"Then simple, we split up. Two to one guide. One goes for the nest in that direction, as that is our lead. The other continues scouting throughout the jungle. We'll communicate with our scrolls, and the nest party will take it upon themselves to converge on the other party's set path."

Nora smiled as he looked at Paris, who was nodding with a look of mild approval. "Sounds like a good plan Jaune. Nothing special but… sensible with good explanation. We will move forward with that plan. Any preference on guide to task?"

"Well… uh…" Jaune scratched the back of his head vigorously, "I…. don't feel comfortable telling you guys what to do so… you can decide amongst yourselves?"

Paris chuckled. _Wait, did Commander Grumpy-Pants just make a noise that indicated an emotion besides comtempt?... Is Jaune just THAT good at charming Nikoses… Nikae…. Nikii?... Whatever._ "Fair enough. If it is not unwelcome I will accompany the party headed for the nest."

"Fine by me," Nora turned around to see Lumen giving a bright smile facing her son… though her eyes conveyed trace amounts of sadness. "I guess I'll continue moving on ahead."

"Okay, Ren, since you clearly know the most about the Parasites, you'll accompany Commander Nikos. Pyrrha you also will-"

"Okay Jaune, you may be the leader," suddenly Lumen stopped smiling and started smirking. "But I'm still your Mom, and I'll take Pyrrha." Lumen pointed to the still silent champion, who's head jerked upwards; emerald eyes widening.

"Uh…" Jaune raised his hand to object, only to have the massive gauntlet of Paris placed on his shoulder.

"Considering the nature of this mission, it's probably important for the leader to be present in witnessing the clearing out of a Parasite nest. You're coming with me." Paris eyed Jaune with a look that said, _you still have to prove more to me._

"So that leaves me with Nora and Pyrrha!" Lumen clapped her hands, giving an almost evil glare at Nora, who realized just what game this woman was playing. _Wait… Jaune's gone, with Pyrrha and I alone with her…. uh oh._ "Fantastic! We'll let the men do the gross work while we enjoy a nice little jaunt in the jungle." _Normally I'd be down for this but… no. Please. Jaune… Pyrrha… anybody?_

"Yeah… great plan… definitely how I'd wish this would play out…" Jaune stuttered.

"Woof."

"Considering what FOUND the Parasite," Ren added, "it would be suitable for Zwei to accompany us."

"Wait, what?" It was Paris's turn to object, as Ren, Jaune, Paris, and Zwei walked towards where the Parasite emerged….

Nora had a feeling that, despite Paris's temperament, they were going to have more fun than her and Pyrrha.

"Well, good, the boys are gone. We can talk freely and honestly about our feminine ways." Lumen smiled. "C'mon, let's not dawdle, let's see if we can find some big Grimm to show-up the guys on their little pest control excursion."

"With pleasure, Mrs. Arc." Pyrrha seemed to be pleased with this. Away from her father making everything awkward. _Oh, if you only knew Pyrrha. If you only knew._

"Call me Lumen, Mrs. Arc is my mother-in-law…. And she smells like tobacco, regret, and a hint of lemon."

"Of course, Lumen." Pyrrha's head bowed as she walked near to Lumen's side. Nora held back slightly. If Lumen couldn't look at her, she didn't have to deal with whatever the woman had to say.

They started walking in relative silence, even Nora finding herself controlling what comes out of her mouth. Nora was starting to see why Ren was less fearful of Paris… Lumen was sneaky. While Paris was a poop-head, he was honest. Nora knew what was on his mind, what his concerns were, and his stance on things. Lumen wasn't so transparent. She would only reveal her inner opinions at opportune moments, to catch you off guard.

And here she was, with two girls who had a crush on her only son.

Oum have mercy on them all.

"So," Pyrrha broke the silence. "What was Jaune like growing up? He… he hasn't talked too much about his childhood."

"Probably because it wasn't anything special." Lumen shrugged, "we had a normal life. Noah and I retired from hunting and preferred to have domestic jobs in our township. I write in the local paper, and Noah is a standard cubicle dweller for the local branch of the Schnee Dust Company. Heh…" Lumen shook her head, "I wouldn't believe I'd pick up this baby again." She motioned to her fencing foil, which glinted in the fragmented sunlight from the canopy. She had a soft smile, a remnant of nostalgia she had long forgotten. "Still, when duty calls, like when you hear your son is about to go on his second year mission, and he REFUSES to tell you how he's doing… sometimes you got to take up arms at hit the wilderness once more."

"Uh… quick question." Nora leaned in, hoping to steer the conversation from where she knew it was going, "how DID you know about these missions, considering Jaune keeps you in the dark?"

Lumen laughed, "funny story about that…"

* * *

"So it's a sword?" Ruby's eyes expanded in awe, wonder, and sugar-induced excitement. "…That's also a DRILL?"

"Spent a good chunk of my younger life in the mines." The tall, dark skinned man with gigantism replied. "My weapon was modified from some leftover equipment."

"Recycled mining parts?" Ruby's eyes widened more… somehow. "Environmentally friendly AND just SO AWESOME!"

Umber Fjord was an experience huntsman. No wife and kids to return to, and parents who died shortly after he graduated, his life was the hunt. He served Remnant working freelance, but he would occasionally employ himself in more public matters, such as guiding students on simpler missions that allowed the man to breathe, and interact with the ones who were to take up his mantle whenever he grew tired of fighting… or the fighting eventually did what it did to many in the field.

"So… did you work in the Schnee mines, or…" Umber looked towards Weiss Schnee, heiress to the company that was worked into the vile spit of many of his old friends he had growing up. 'Schnee' was used instead of 'Shit' to describe something intrinsically unpleasant. He couldn't help but harbor an interior chuckle when Weiss said her last name.

"I worked in many mines, Weiss. But I assure you, I don't place my experiences there on you. Just help me help you perform your duty. That's all I ask." Umber smiled at the small, elegant heiress, whose confidence was grossly apparent… until her name was mentioned.

Or whenever some… other… event was mentioned.

"So…" the tallest of the team leered. Yang, was it? "… when Glynda found you with the Malachite Twins…."

"I told you to shut it!" Weiss practically squeaked, her face redder than the gore of a Grimm. Umber sighed, youth. It only seemed so recent when that was taken from him.

He still kept in touch with his own team-mates, though to varying degrees. Pluto was a busy man with an important job as Atlas's second in command, ironic since he was a major player AGAINST Atlas's takeover of Mantle, but Pluto wasn't one to let political opinions discourage him from taking a good job. His own partner, Anise Meadows, had gone missing ever since her engagement to Pluto didn't work out. She occasionally kept in touch with him, but rarely, and begged him to not tell anyone of their occasional rendezvous…. Or the state of her face. Last time they talked, she was happily living a simple life in Mistral

So that left Lumen la Seine… or Lumen Arc now that she was married and took the man's surname. It was easy keeping in touch with her; she wasn't in hiding and she wasn't a huntress anymore, roving the world like he was. To visit, all he had to do was go to her township… he never did though. He was too busy at most times and didn't want to presume upon Lumen's already massive family during holidays, but that was fine. Umber found peace in his solitude, but he was always interacting with enough people that loneliness never consumed him.

"WHY WOULD YOU ASK THE MALACHITE TWINS TO BUY YOU LINGERIE?" Umber was shook from his thoughts when the high-pitched indignation that was Ruby practically jostled everyone in the town.

"Not so loud!" Weiss covered Ruby's mouth, "I can't be seen in those kind of stores, you know that!"

Umber smiled. Every time he did this service, he was reminded of some banters he had when he was in school. He told Lumen that much when he informed her that he was going to be guiding some second year students at Beacon.

Strangely enough, Lumen's only answer was, "thank you."

The obvious faunus girl finally chipped in, "Weiss, if you needed us to buy you things that you shouldn't be seen buying in public, you could've asked us…."

"Yeah, then we would've been more discreet than what eventually happened…"

"Oh shut up!"

"Girls," Umber remarked, loud enough to be heard but quiet enough to not be overly rough. "we're about to arrive at the village of Mulan. They had a Slaggeater attack around a month or so ago, and they want our help with surveying the forest nearby…."

* * *

The stupid dog was sniffing ahead of them, 'helping' them 'look' for the Parasite nest. It all seemed rather frivolous. Grimm didn't defecate or urinate, nor do they mark their territory. What 'scent' could the dog possibly have? The only thing that could find a Grimm through sensory-based methods was another Grimm. Unless if this dog was part Grimm, a fact he highly doubted, the dog would have no point in helping them find the Parasite nest.

He thought about bringing it up, but this was a learning experience for them. He'll let the dog lead them astray for a while, then he would correct them and then showcase some superior Grimm tracking tactics, at least in finding something as stationary as a nest. Paris may have gotten his start in tournament fighting, and he still participated in the proper age-bracket from time to time to get a little bit of extra Lien for the family, but he was a Huntsman. He knew what he was doing, more than this stupid dog.

The boys, on the other hand, they showed the workings of it, but clearly had something…. Lacking. Ren, as knowledgeable as he was respectful, moved without proper form. There was a lethargy in his movements, the way his arms limply swayed and his feet dragged along the ground. He held his guns out, and he was alert… but his stance did not allow for optimum power in either his strikes or proper aim. It didn't matter if he straightened up and got into business for a fight, the stance beforehand is just as important, if not more so, than your actions during.

Jaune was… well, he was complicated. Penelope recognized the signs of a girl's first crush when Pyrrha was calling home about it. The way she excitedly stated she found a great guy and was able to line up initiation to have the guy be her partner. The way her eyes glowed the same way the much younger version of his daughter glowed when Paris told her he was going to train her in his ways. Paris didn't notice it, why would he? But Penelope, ever the observant one in these kinds of matters, caught on very quick.

He wasn't asking this man to be AS skilled or even more so than Pyrrha. That would be ridiculous. The only people that could possibly fit THAT would be the teachers, and THAT would NOT BE OKAY. But…

Jaune came across as incompetent, unable to fight on his own, relying on others to fight his battles. Foolish enough to somehow get into Beacon, yet cowardly enough to know he's out of his depth, but stupid enough to not leave. It would be FINE if he was just a civilian with a personality Pyrrha had an affinity to, but Jaune was his daughter's team-mate! And her LEADER to top it all off!

…Not that he didn't see promise. His mind certainly seemed stable and reasonable, he was able to create a rapport that even that childish Nora would willingly follow him, and he probably was here because his upbringing required him to acknowledge fear, yet act against it. Lumen's semblance could NOT have been fun to grow up with…. He certainly did not have fun, he hadn't screamed like that since he was ambushed by a stampede of Goliaths…. Okay it was Boarbatusks but it was his third year in school dammit!

If he had time to train the boy, he could turn Jaune into something truly special in about a year or so. Same thing with Ren.

But they didn't need to know that. The Grimm weren't going to congratulate them on a job well done, they must first gain that confidence not through words, but experience.

"Well," it had been long enough, "why do you think the dog hasn't-"

"Well, that definitely looks like the nest." Ren mentioned, pointing above him with Jaune looking up and gasping.

 _WHAT?_ Paris looked up to see the black ooze that spread across the canopy, long globs of evil essence threatening to drip down, quivering as the last connection it had to the unholy mass grew thinner and thinner.

One piece dropped down, a Parasite growing from the black droplet. Jaune, to his credit, was quick on his feet and squashed the bug before it even had a chance to scurry. Ren cocked his guns.

"Woof!"

Paris looked down to see that stupid mutt panting at his feet. _You got lucky… I would've gotten us here faster._

"All right Ren, how do we get rid of this thing?"

"It is an organism that just congeals onto itself. If we cut it or puncture it, it can repair itself faster than we can damage it…. But we can burn it."

"Burn it?"

"The combustion damages the…. Material that repairs it so quickly. If we set it on fire, it won't be ABLE to repair itself."

Jaune nodded, "well, it would be really easy if we had any fire dust. But you don't use it, I don't have any…. Commander Nikos, do you have an fire dust on you?"

"No I don't." Paris admitted. His weapon didn't use dust at all, at least not offensively. "So, this may be the perfect time to tell you how to make a-" Paris turned around to see Jaune with a lit torch. _What the- How the-_ "You just made a torch?"

"Yes."

"….you know how to make a torch?"

"It's his thing," Ren sighed. "One of the few things he knew how to do before he attended Beacon."

"Hey, I knew other things!" Jaune protested, "like… how to cross a great gap on a bridge!"

"You had Nora fling you across that gap."

"Well! I knew who to ask! Also, I wasn't the one who was knocked out by a tail."

"I wasn't knocked out! I was… inconvenienced."

"JUST SET THE NEST ON FIRE ALREADY!" Paris did not have any more patience for… whatever this was.

Ren and Jaune jumped at his sudden outburst, but thankfully Jaune didn't drop the torch. The blonde lifted up the fire and set the darkness ablaze, consuming the canopy above in a dance of heat and flame.

"We should stay to mitigate the fire, make sure it doesn't spread much further past this point." Paris noted, with Ren and Jaune nodding.

Maybe Pyrrha's team wasn't so bad after all…. At least two thirds of it wasn't.

"Woof!"

Oh yeah, the dog was still stupid.

* * *

 **A/N: For those who have read Spectrum by Super Saiyan Cyndaquil, you may think that Lumen's semblance is highly similar to Olivia's… well… it is. Not an exact rip-off but it would be remiss to not mention that the idea probably spawned from reading that story. Also, it seemed perfect, I think a lot of people have some kind of interior fear when a parent gives you "a look," and I thought it would be interesting to make that Jaune's mother's semblance. Also, the idea of Lumen having heterochromatic eyes, at least slightly, to resemble Neo seemed like a nice touch. Neo is already the runt of the litter compared to her seven siblings… but she's also the most dangerous.**

 **And Mom's know when girls are trying to get with her only son… and she has some choice feelings about that. More on that in the next chapter.**

 **The reaction towards Paris is what I expected. He's a dick. However, as hinted by Pyrrha and seen in this chapter, he's not a TOTAL dick… he just goes to the Gordon Ramsay or Terrence Fletcher from Whiplash school of teaching… forcing excellence out of you in the harshest way possible. Doesn't make him NOT a dick, but makes him a dick with context.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Light a Torch and Set the World on FIRE! BECOME BRIGHTER! THAN THE SUUUUUUUUNNNNNN!**


	19. Zwei in the Sky

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

She felt slightly guilty, but Pyrrha was relieved to not have her father present for the time being. Nothing made her more meek than having the rest of her team being chewed out by Father's harsh standards, and feeling unable to correct him. She couldn't stand up to him, he was her father and the reason she was where she was now.

She was taught to respect those that have earned their place of authority: teachers, leaders, and especially parents. Their experience and aptitude was beyond anything she had accomplished, despite her success in the ring.

"Oh! So he was like Ren, the stoic, silent type…." Pyrrha was reeled to reality when Nora's loud voice reminded her that she was walking in a humid jungle with Nora and Mrs. Arc.

"Yeah… our team was fun. I was loud and so was my partner. And Umber's partner was also a quiet type like himself. Two loud-mouths and two reserved individuals. We balanced each other out… not unlike your team, if my Jaune continues to be the talker he usually is." The woman than looked over at Pyrrha, "you can say things too you know, I'm not going to judge everything you say like your father."

"He doesn't mean anything by it…" Pyrrha defended, "he just… likes to see the best in me, in actions and speech."

"I guess I can respect that, but a mission isn't about being perfect, it's about getting it done one way or another, at least that's how I felt."

"How long were you a huntress?" Pyrrha vocally wondered.

"Until the fall of Mantle… that's when I decided I had enough." Her voice suddenly became sullen. "My team fought alongside each other, trying to stop Ironwood's political stunt. I lost no one personal… but… it was enough." She continued walking. "I met up with my then recent husband, who also had enough of his fair share to discover that line of work wasn't for him either, despite the legacy of his ancestors. Set up shop in a small township, Brule, while my other team-mates moved on differently."

"Do you miss it?"

"Hell no!" Mrs. Arc let out a derisive snort, "if you girls can feel fulfilled by this work, good on you, but it's not for me…. and I'm honestly hoping it's not for my son either." She continued walking, but Mrs. Arc lifted her fencing foil, almost looking at it with a mild revulsion mixed with static nostalgia. She sighed as she continued trudging through the tropical landscape.

"How long do you think the guys will take?" Nora added, prancing in between herself and the Matri-Arc….. wait…. Did she just… _Yang! I blame you!_

"It's hard to know, you've probably heard how tracking down Grimm is a difficult, long process. We'll probably not see them until night when we set up camp. You can call them on your scroll if you wish… if you can get a signal and they vice-versa… The CCT is pretty good but sometimes in the boonies you can barely get anything… except in Atlas. The local kingdom network is pretty solid."

"I've heard." Pyrrha remarked unhelpfully, as she checked her scroll to see that there was to see that her signal, while present, was incredibly low. It took forever just for it to load up her contacts, let alone send a message. She decided to text, so it would send whenever they got a sweet spot.

 _How are you doing on the Parasite nest?_ She hit send, and suddenly felt something on her shoulder. Nora's chin was resting on it, her eyes bugged and looking at her scroll.

"Ask him if the dog is okay, too!" Nora quickly added.

"You have your own scroll….."

"Uh… it's really low on battery."

"…why? Shouldn't you have charged it before you left?"

"I had important things to use it for."

"….like what?"

Nora, still having yet to get off Pyrrha's bare shoulder, chuckled mildly as a light flush covered her face. "….Flickemon Go."

Pyrrha forgot how to make her face move. "…what?"

"You don't know what Flickemon Go is?" Nora got off her shoulder and grabbed her scroll, "it's like the best app game ever! It's free and…"

Pyrrha yanked her scroll back via her Polarity, "you wasted your scroll's battery life on a GAME?"

"Well, it's not my fault the game is poorly optimized!" Nora replied in a small whiny tone.

"This is exactly what my father was talking about! Listen, Nora, you're like a sister I never had, but you HAVE to take these things more seriously!"

"I DO take things seriously Pyrrha! I just like having fun too!" Nora yelled back, "at least I don't let my emotions control me!"

"I do NOT let my emotions control me!"

"Really? You of all people are going to say that? 'Oh sempai please notice me… but not like that! I'll just mope around for a week until sempai notice me right.' Or 'oh father, let me just stay silent as you verbally abuse my team! That's the father I love!'" Nora walked up to Pyrrha to decrease the distance between their eyes.

"You brought a dog! A tiny little dog to a dangerous mission!" Pyrrha leaned in to meet up with Pyrrha's challenging glare. She was NOT going to even humor her in how she brought up Jaune.

"That dog survived a Slaggeater, if you're forgetting that! Or are you just mad it was ME that saved your little…"

A skewer of metal zipped between their faces, forcing both huntress students to back off. A small squelch, followed by a squawk of pain directed Pyrrha's attention to a small Nevermore impaled through its chest, fluttering its last in desperation until it evaporated is red and black smoke. Pyrrha turned to see that Mrs. Arc had yet to leave her spot, her foil having extended all the way to the desire target. She could see the faint yellowish glow from what Jaune called her 'evil eye.' The apparently very sharp foil then retracted back into the now understandably large pommel and grip.

"Before you comment, I personally think that arguments are a healthy part of being a team, no matter how heated they get. But, unfortunately, we may have to interrupt that in favor of staying alive." She pointed above to see some Nevermores circling them like covetous vultures. Some were fairly small, while some were around the size of the one from initiation.

"Finally, we get to see Jaune's Mom in action!" Nora, seemingly having forgotten about their squabble prepared Magnhild and gave a small 'woop' with her arm. Pyrrha moved her weapons to their ready stance, her shield prepped and short-sword at the ready. This was something she felt more natural in. Not dealing with her father. Not dealing with Nora and… whatever caused that outburst. No. Don't even need to think about it.

She had some Grimm to kill. She shifted Milo to its spear and flung it at some rascally birds of darkness.

Only for it to be knocked out of the air by a stray grenade.

"Sorry!" Pyrrha heard Nora cry, sheepishly holding her grenade launcher with her typical genuine Nora smile. Pyrrha sighed, what couldn't be helped couldn't be helped. She called her spear and readied to strike once again.

Unbeknownst to her, a majestically slow and incredibly large Grimm bird of prey had yet to make itself known, flying for a separate target.

* * *

"Uhg… some sweat is getting in my eye!" Jaune rubbed his eyes, trying to wrest the stinging liquid from the sensitive organ. Why did this only happen to him?

"Keep your eyes open!" Jaune heard Commander Nikos bark out, "if you lose your focus, you're as good as burned!"

"Yes sir!" Jaune forced his eyelids to part, despite the agony, and continued controlling the flame by cutting off stray tree branches that were enveloped in the fire on the Parasite nest. He also had to make sure that no enflamed droplets reach the floor, releasing a Parasite and also setting the floor on fire. It was easy to snuff out, and the job was more busy than difficult…. But why was it so HOT?

Duh, it was fire. That's kind of what it did, made things hot.

Like Vanilla's private shopping catalogue collection.

 _Okay, no perverted thoughts when a jungle is on fire._ Jaune's mind returned to focusing on the task at hand, and took to controlling the wood…. Both types.

"Okay!" Commander Nikos's voice commanded the smoke laced air, "that should be sufficient, not get out of the way before the nest falls from the canopy!"

Jaune backed off, as did Ren, and the black mass flopped its smoldering mass upon the ground. The moist grass and foliage failed to catch light, and only the horrid nest squirmed in the tenacious flames that ate at it.

"Adequate work, gentlemen." Commander Nikos 'congratulated,' "While there may be more nests in this area, they are rarely close together. Which means we should reconvene with the women."

"Woof." Zwei concurred. At least Jaune thought that was concurrence.

Commander Nikos still looked at the dog with a visage of annoyance. He sighed and stood up in a professional manner, "so, what direction do we go to intersect with the spiral course…"

"We follow the scroll trackers, at least I will." Jaune pulled out his scroll and turned on his leader privileged tracker app, but was sorely disappointed when the signal wasn't adequate enough for it to perform optimally.

"A real huntsman learns how to navigate without relying on a scroll signal: unless if you're in Atlas, you will experience signal difficulties this far away from civilization. So, the first thing you do is…"

Zwei started scampering off in a direction, walked a fair distance before turning around and giving an expectant gaze with his practically all-black puppy gaze. Jaune looked at Ren, who shrugged, and started following the dog, muttering, "it did lead us to the nest."

Jaune followed Ren, and the dog started once again trotting along the moist ground. "…or we could follow the dog." Jaune heard Paris groan, "Again. This is happening again."

"I must admit, Zwei has rather uncanny tracking dog abilities." Ren mused, "it did find Nora and I, and brought Nora to you in Mulan."

"It's a super dog," Jaune shrugged, not shying from a truth that no one could believe.

"Let me guess, it was Zwei that killed the Slaggeater." Ren not knowing that he was deducing his greatest secret.

"Oh yes, definitely."

"Wait, Jaune and Ren, you're telling me," Commander Nikos's voice echoed behind him, "that that dog. That small, pathetic looking creature… survived a Slaggeater attack!"

"And Jaune did. So did Nora. They were able to hold out until Glynda Goodwitch arrived." Ren said with a smile that said, _Oh, I'm going to enjoy THIS._

"Wh…WHAT? Then it couldn't have been a Slaggeater! It must've been like an extra-large King Taijutu."

"Nope, I can vouch that it was a Slaggeater. So would Goodwitch if you wish to ask her." Ren continued smirking as Jaune just let him confuse the Commander. It was rather satisfying to see his eyes widen and his hand stroke his hair in disbelief.

He then, after containing himself, spoke once more, "well, you are lucky that Goodwitch was in the area. A Slaggeater is a monster that I would NEVER in the right mind make you fight on your own, not even my daughter… not even myself, really."

"Trust me, it wasn't easy." _Well… I spent most of my time being bashed by its tail or running…. Still wasn't easy._ "I don't have any desire to repeat it."

"Most huntsmen don't even get a CHANCE to repeat it… even if it is categorized as the weakest Class M Grimm."

"WEAKEST?" Jaune exclaimed, "There is a whole CLASS of Grimm more powerful than that thing!"

"It's not that big of a Class, to be fair, only ten recorded types… though then again it's probably because it's hard to document them since you need to survive them in the first place: might be some undocumented creatures that belong in that class but are just not recorded." Ren stroked his chin, pensively thinking about something: Jaune assumed the nameless slaughtering of a bunch of unlucky souls.

"Well, that's comforting." Jaune deadpanned. _I wonder if I'll be seeing any more of them on this destined path I must take._ "What ARE the Class M Grimm, all of them, it's not like we cover them in class."

"You wouldn't really until your last year," Commander Nikos followed up, "basically, they are the aforementioned Slaggeaters, Grimm Dragons, Queen Taijutus, Macarenas, Aphrodites, Void-Breathers, Promontories, Tumblers, Rotten-Hearts, and Memorials." Commander Nikos seemed to shudder slightly at the mention of the last one, "they are incredibly rare encounters, but if you wish I could describe them to you and the most likely strategy for success."

"That would be really cool, actually." Jaune smiled for the first time at Pyrrha's father, who also seemed to smile back, visibly proud of their desire to learn from him. Jaune was just happy he was going to get a Grimm lesson that wasn't laced with Port's exploits.

"Well, first a Slaggeater, since you're already familiar, you want to-"

"Woof!"

"Ahem, you want to aim for the middle of it if you can, it's the most fragile-"

"Woof!"

"Quiet dog! The middle can be hit with enough force to cleave the beast-"

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"WHAT ARE YOU BARKING-"

"CAAAAWWWW!"

Jaune, rapt in what Paris had to say, suddenly felt talons grasp at his shoulders. He looked up to see a large, bone plated Nevermore Alpha. He remembered how Port described how a Nevermore Alpha was like a normal Nevermore, but it was more 'Alpha.'

Port then described how he fought the beast in only a towel, with a toothbrush… or was it a hairbrush? Jaune wasn't paying attention, as usual.

"DUCK!" Jaune heard someone say, and he obliged, as he heard a heavy 'shing' grace above him. The talons still grasped at his shoulders… but they were no longer connected to the bird that had them.

Commander Nikos's weapon was in sword form, wielding the massive weapon with two hands. He returned it to a ready stance after his strike as the bird fluttered out, screaming. "Well… Jaune, Ren, may I see how well you work in a combat situation?"

Jaune nodded as he unsheathed Crocea Mors, extending the sheath to its shield. _This will be good! Finally a chance to prove myse-_

Jaune didn't get to prove himself when another Nevermore caught him in its beak, and flew off with him.

"OH C'MON!" Jaune then realized predicament, as he saw the ground flee from view. "Also, HEEEELLLLLPPP!"

* * *

Grenades and rifle fire peppered the sky as the birds refused to let up. The smaller ones kept dive-bombing them, only to be spiked by Lumen's foil. The larger ones circled, as if waiting for an opportune moment. _An opportune moment to what?_

Nora was still enjoying herself. Nevermores may be annoying in that they can't be smashed on the ground, they must be fought in the sky. It was much less engaging to point and make explosions happen then to swing Magnhild _around baby right round like it's hammer time right round right round._

Nora shook the song out of her head as she continued pointing and shooting. The larger Nevermores didn't seem to phased, but the smaller ones were falling out of the sky like it was _raining birds, halleluiah._

Nora shook THAT song out of her head. The ground beneath smoked with the evaporating Grimm avians. The marks of battle that sometimes made her giggle with glee, but now it just frustrated her that no big birdy had hit the dirty. _Is that a song? No it isn't, okay, my head's in the game again. Gotta get my head in the game, getcha getcha head in the DAMMIT!_ She didn't even LIKE that song! NOR the movie!

"Mrs. Arc, what should we do?" Nora heard Pyrrha comment, "the birds aren't letting up and the larger ones are staying out of our range!"

"Do you have any idea how out of the game I've been?" Lumen replied, continuing to skewer the smaller ones that dared to get to close. "If you're thinking I was what gave Jaune's tactical mind, that was all his father, and their board game competitions… uhg, NEVER play him in Market Control, he always seems to get the properties you land on."

Nora looked up at the sky, the bigger Nevermores refusing to even play by their rules, just circling _right round baby right round like a record baby…._ Something needed to bring them down, something like a hammer to the beak.

She pulled out the taser, and stabbed herself with it, and with giggling glee she hopped high into the air, shifting Magnhild to its mighty hammer, and placing her feet at the mallet. She locked eyes with one of the Nevermores, that dared to 'caw' at her. She let loose some grenades to close the distance, and winded up.

"NORAAAAA SMA-" Suddenly the other large Nevermore swooped in behind her and caught her in her talons, and…. started to fly away.

"HEY!" Nora objected, "I was about to smash your brother, but if YOU want a taste!" Still trapped by her shoulders in the Nevermore's talons, she shifted Magnhild to its grenade launcher form and started blasting at the Nevermore's belly….

Which, in hindsight, was a little too close to Nora for her to not be hit by the explosion. The talons did let her go as the fallout of her assault knocked her off to the ground, and made her slightly dazed that she didn't notice the other Nevermore swoop in as well and grab her in ITS talons, this time holding her like a worm, the spindly and spiky toes enveloping her torso and her arms in a way she couldn't really move.

"Wha-HEY! What is with you Nevermores and… she looked off to see the birds were flying away. All of them. "What's the meaning of… oh." Nora then realized what this was probably about. "You know, when a Slaggeater doesn't work, sending in a bunch of Nevermores is not going to change anything, right! I mean, Nevermores are just a bunch of stupid birds!"

"CAW!"

"Don't you tell me what I 'caw' and 'cawn't' say… wait…." _I spend too much time with Yang, and I don't even spend THAT much time with her!_ "You are STUPID, STUPID BIRDS! Even if we don't have Zwei with us, you are nothing to me but feathery freaks! NOW LET ME GO SO I CAN SHOW YOU WHAT I MEAN!" Nora started squirming violently and thrashing against the talons that held her so firmly. She stopped and sighed, the futility of her position reminding her of the futility of her love life, first her best friend and now her…. Jaune?

Nora's head shifted as he saw a man with a sword and shield fighting ON TOP of the Nevermore, batting the lesser with his shield and sword and attempting to keep balance as the beast he rode swerved with reckless abandon. It eventually went completely upside down, with Jaune having to bury his sword into the tough skin of the Nevermore. "I regret getting out of this thing's beak!" The handsome warrior cried.

"JAUNE!" Nora cried out to him, the Nevermore flipping back right side up and reorienting itself. Jaune turned his head, "NORA! They got you too?"

"Seems like it…." Nora sighed. "What's the plan?"

Jaune, while still balancing on the bird, and bashing a smaller bird with his shield that tried to get him, started stroking his chin. "Okay, I'll get you, just stay where you are!"

Nora looked at the talons grasping her. "You got it." She said, not with her usual enthusiasm.

* * *

Jaune looked across the massive sky, littered with varying degrees of size of Nevermore. Wind slapped his face as if he did something indecent or if it was Pyrrha Nikos. The distance between Nora and he wasn't too big, but he definitely couldn't jump far enough to do what he wanted to do.

Jaune sighed; it was easier getting out of the beak. All he had to do was activate his semblance when it tried to chop down on him, and use that window to escape the beak and flip himself Pyrrha-style onto the bird's head…. That was his first combat flip, and NO ONE was around to see it. Just his luck.

Still, it made it puzzling, the birds that swooped and swerved were usually small ones, with not enough mass and strength for him to…

"CAWWWW!" Jaune turned around to see the legless Nevermore Alpha had also taken to the sky to accompany him and Nora to… wherever they were taking them. _Just what I need!_

"Hey legless! Do you… uh…. I don't know…. HEY LOOK AT ME!" Jaune sheathed his sword and waved his hands attempting to get the impetuous Grimm's attention. It seemed to work, as its red eyes seem to bear down on him like Mom's when his hand was in the cookie jar.

It was then that Jaune jumped across the gap that separated her from Nora, grasping onto one of the smaller Nevermores in the flock that couldn't possibly hold his weight.

"Jaune! What are you doing?!" He heard Nora cry, but he didn't have time to give a good response, he just looked towards the massive bird gunning for him. He held on to the desperately fluttering bird, who was starting to peck his head. "Erg, you're like Ruby when I refuse to give her my cookies." Jaune muttered as he focused on his target, the big'um.

"CAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW!"

"Caw-rma caw-rma caw-rma caw-rma Karma Chameleon!" Jaune sang in some form of a battle cry as he swung off the Nevermore and right into the gaping maw of the bird. Jaune could hear Nora's cries in the background, "I love that song!"

He stretched his limbs out in a jumping jack position as his feet graced the lower beak as his hands grasped the upper beak. He felt the beast about to chomp down.

 _GONGGG!_

Jaune refused to budge and crumble under the pressure of the Alpha's bite, as he positioned himself and, while holding onto the beak with his hands, used all his upper body strength augmented by aura to flip himself to the top of the bird's beak, standing right between the beast's eyes. Jaune wasted no time grasping the armored skin, and crawled himself up to the bird's back.

"WOOO! Go Jaune! Nice flip!" Jaune smiled as at least his second flip was noticed. He ran along the torpid, feathery plain that was the mighty Nevermore Alpha's back, heading for the wing, which overhung just where he was hoping to go.

Jaune looked up to see more minor Nevermores start diving towards him, and Jaune took out Crocea Mors and started swiping at them, dodging them, and ducking and gripping the feathers whenever the Alpha started trying to shake him off.

He got to the wing, and since it was flapping, hoping to stay balanced on THAT was nigh impossible. His semblance helped, the fact that he could use it to not be knocked off by a dive-bombing Nevermore Minor or the torpid wind was useful, but his semblance did not ignore gravity…. He tested it. No landing strategy as of now. He was more embarrassed that the bale of hay he placed there did not break his fall as well as he hoped.

But he ran alongside it anyway, but instead of running the full length, he looked over and leaped off, and landed on the Nevermore that was carrying Nora. He reached his destination, all he had to do was get to Nora.

He turned to find, once again, another minor Nevermore going for him. Jaune was going to unsheathe the sword and kill him like the rest, but he decided against it…. He grabbed a hold of it instead, and leaped off the bird.

The bird was desperately trying to remain airborne, but Jaune's weight was too great, and it started to slowly sink, right to the same altitude as Nora. Jaune swung off and grabbed the Nevermore's talons.

"Jaune! You made it, now wha-" Nora was interrupted when Jaune aimed to kiss Nora on the cheek, but due to rushing things, Jaune missed the cheek. He was kissing something closer to the center of Nora's face….

Jaune started making out with Nora…..'s nose.

* * *

"Pyrrha is going to kill me. Lumen is going to kill me. This will go down on my huntsman record!" Commander Nikos was lamenting as they ran, the barking dog raving madly and running swiftly.

"You think they can kill you?" Ren couldn't help but ask.

"I'm encased in metal and I rely on keeping eye contact to read my opponents… it's a reflex." It would've been more funny for Ren to see Commander Nikos genuinely panicking if it weren't for the fact he himself was panicking. His leader was just swooped up by a Nevermore by the beak. His leader might be in grave danger.

And if grieving would've been bad, he would be stuck on a team with two girls that were into him. Grief plus maddening hijinks was not on Ren's to do list.

"You reconnect with the team, I'll go look for Jaune." Commander Nikos suddenly burst out. "You all are my responsibility, and now, your leader needs me."

"You think you can catch up to it?"

"I've chased after Nevermores before, it shouldn't be too difficult." The man huffed, but not from being out of breath, but more from trying to pout out his own concern. "Follow your… stupid magic tracking dog back to the team, tell them I got captured along with Jaune."

"Really? You want me to lie?"

"You try having a daughter, and then have that daughter's crush get abducted by a death-bird on your watch."

"….fair enough."

Commander Nikos then grabbed a tree and shuffled up it, with amazing speed considering how heavy his armor must be. Ren followed his ascent up the tree, and how his metal boots ran along the canopy, clearly looking for a lookout to track the flock of Nevermores that instantly left once Jaune was captured.

 _ZWOOOOOOOSSHHHH!"_ Ren suddenly felt his hair blow from behind him. He turned around to see Zwei had just disappeared.

 _Did he just run off without me?….Or did something just…. You know what, I don't know anymore._ Ren went to his pack and pulled out a flare. _I knew there was a reason I packed these._

* * *

Nora loved affection, she really did. Hugs, tighter hugs, the kisses on the cheek, high fives that awkwardly end with hand-holding for some reason, spooning, forking, butter knifing, steak knifing, there was a full list of things she's experienced and loved or something she wished to experience.

A guy enveloping her nose in his mouth?

She sneezed.

Jaune coughed and hacked as he let go of the talons keeping her captive, falling into the mess of trees that whizzed by as the Nevermores continued to take flight.

"JAUNE!" Nora called out. She didn't mean too! By Oum what if Jaune dies because his lips tickled her-

A beam of white light suddenly rushed beneath Nora, breaking the sound barrier with a loud clap. A large white sphere suddenly settled underneath her, and a black beam emanated from the orb.

He heard the energy smash into the Nevermore's face, loosening its grip as it let go of Nora, who fell in the path of the orb. When she crossed into the contained glow, she felt her descent slow until she peacefully floated near the center of the luminescent sphere. She turned her head, eyes slowly adjusting to see Jaune floating alongside her. He gave a sheepish grin as he raised his thumb.

"Next time, if you're going to experiment, aim for the mouth, not the nose." Nora said, not realizing what she was implying. When Jaune's face froze, turning a deep shade of red, Nora suddenly felt skittish. "I mean… instead of my nose… because, y'know, that was weird. I… was just saying I would've preferred… not that I want to, not that I wouldn't mind, but not that I WANT it, y'know?"

"Nora."

"Yes?"

"Are you trying to impersonate me?"

Nora's eyes widened, "well…. you rub off on me sometimes…. IN THE COMPLETELY FIGURATIVE WAY!"

Jaune laughed, "glad I'm not the only one who digs myself into holes."

"Where's Zwei?"

"Look." Jaune pointed out of the sphere. "I'm glad we practiced him making these airborn transport thingies without him needing to be physically in it."

The white and black ball was whizzing around the Nevermores, harassing the avian and killing all the smaller ones.

"Zwei!" Nora called out, "TORNADO!"

"WOOF!" Zwei's barks didn't need to make sonic waves anymore to be loud… though that was still in his repertoire.

A two headed cyclone, centered at the Zwei-Ball, started drawing the Nevermores into each other. The Alpha swerved into a bunch of its smaller bretheren, colliding within the whirlwind. The feathered monstrosities struggled to emerge from the collision-caused mass of its ensnared selves

"Finish them off!" Jaune called out.

The ball unleashed a mighty laser that tore through all the Nevermores. The mass let out their final caw-cophony as they screeched: a billowing cloud of lost feathers bloomed into the air, and slowly drifting to their final resting place on the ground.

Zwei flew over to Jaune and Nora, still suspended in its ball of energy, the dog panting with the closest thing a smile it could muster.

"Woof!"

"Good boy!" Nora knelt down to pet the dog… which felt weird as she was suspended in mid-air.

"All that training we did seems to be paying off!"

"Heh, still not as impressive as me and the Slaggeater." Nora smiled as Jaune sighed.

"Zwei, bring us down."

"Woof!"

* * *

THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO BRING THEM TOGETHER! Salem sighed. Her creatures of darkness were simple creatures, easy to manipulate and bend to her whim, their instincts never questioning her will. However, that did make them stupid at times.

 _I should've known better, sending in Nevermores to do a heavy hitters job. Doesn't matter, this time, I don't have only ONE plan._

The jungle, under her decree, was now teeming with Grimm of various danger indexes and thirsts for blood. And it won't only be on the Trainers and its Beast, oh no. It will be for that full party those pitiful humans grouped up as.

How pleasurable Paris would taste to her horde? Lumen herself seemed delicious as well…. and when she got her beast's teeth around Jaune and Nora… their names now known to her… she would savor every gnash and chomp her servants can bestow upon her.

The beast was powerful, but it was just one powerful creature. She had an army, and some Grimm that could rival the beast's current power.

All she had to do was unleash it, and she awaited the trembling of those insolent to oppose her.

* * *

 **A/N: THIS STORY HAS MORE THAN 300 FAVORITES! Do you know what that means? No?**

 **A Celebratory Omake! That's What!**

* * *

 _ **Omake: This…is…A MEME!**_

 _An Omake in honor of the 300 Milestone_

* * *

The messenger walked along with the leader of the small, yet ruthless band of people. He understood his holy purpose, to promote the one truth that will conquer the whole land of Arc. The leader he made his case with, a queen of fiery orange hair and piercing turquoise eyes, did not seem too fond of him. But it didn't matter, if she failed to realize the one holy truth he has come with, then she would meet her doom.

She must accept the one true ship

"All you need to do is give the gift of a 'favorite' and a 'follow:' a sign of 'submission' to Arkos. Arkos has an army of fans that have conquered threads by numbers alone, shutting down servers. They drink rivers dry, devour plains into desert, and turn every field of fruit into a lemon grove. They are powerful, but are willing to grant you mercy if you just 'favorite' and 'follow' them."

The woman bowed her head. "Submission, well, that's a problem. You see, I heard you made the land of Lancaster the same offer, and they refused. And if a bunch of fluff-loving cutesy-boopsies find reason to not fear you… I highly doubt my people will as well."

"Chose your words carefully Valkyrie, they may be your last as Queen."

Valkyrie looked down in thought, and she felt the wind billow and blow around her. She looked at her good friend, Lie Ren, whom the messenger called 'a delicate little flower.' Ren was not a flower, he was a NINJA!

She looked into the fields, and saw her young self, holding a croquet mallet in the fields, training to become the warrior she knew she become.

She chose her words, and drew Magnhild upon the messenger.

"What! Wha- no one threatens a messenger! No one!"

"Well, we are that no one… I mean… uh…. We don't follow anyone's rules here. You should've realized what you walked into. Now you asked us for a 'favorite' and a 'follow'… well… I'm sure you'll find a lot down there." The messenger looked down to see the pride of the village, the hole of Memes.

"This… this is madness!"

Valkyrie smirked, "madness?"

"THIS

IS

NORA!"

And Nora kicked the messenger down into the abyssal void of the internet.

The whole area was silent, until the Queen spoke. "Well…. that was fun! I've always wanted to do a skit like this!"

"Nora…" Weiss groaned, "why are you topless?"

"The guys from the movies didn't really wear shirts, only a cape and a speedo!" Nora motioned to her… revealing outfit.

"They can do that… they're guys…"

"What? They have nipples too! Ours just…. Pop out more!"

"Nora…." Weiss continued face palming, until she looked up again, "YANG! WHAT ARE YOU…. KEEP YOUR TOP ON!"

"What! I'm just forming some good MAMMARIES with Nora over here!"

"YAAAAANNNNGGGG!"

* * *

 **A/N: Geddit? 300? Whatever, that got really weird.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Make it Rain Feathers!**


	20. Who Let the Grimm Out?

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

"They took JAUNE?"

"They took NORA?"

"They took MY FATHER?"

"Well… not really… more like he pursued them."

"HE LET THEM TAKE JAUNE?"

"OKAY! I GET IT, WE'RE WORRIED!" Lumen screamed over Pyrrha and Ren's collective panic. She held her arms out, hoping that it would shut up the… ironically the people she wouldn't expect she needed to shut up. When she finally got their attention, she lowered her hands.

"Pyrrha, I understand you're worried about your cr-partner, but understand that he's my son, and that I am WORRIED! But you don't see me panicking…"

"Your eye is glowing Mrs. Arc," Ren pointed out. He would regret that.

"OUM MY VOICE ACTOR!" Ren did a back flip that ended in a belly flop as Lumen proceeded to give the unhelpful ninja 'the look.'

"Okay, I'm panicking slightly, but at least I'm aware that panicking can't help. Ren, you said that Paris is already on the case of getting Jaune back, right?"

Ren stood up, panting and eyes agape, still reeling from the fear. _He's a big boy, he can handle it._ "Yes… he's on his way."

"Then….. we will put our faith in him. He's been at this game for longer than I have."

"But Mrs. Arc, we can't do NOTHING! My team is in danger!" Pyrrha objected.

"You don't have faith in your father, Pyrrha?" The woman raised her eyebrow as Pyrrha was caught stuttering with no words. Lumen would've laughed at that if it weren't for the fact her son was abducted by birds!

She couldn't even really blame Paris, she let Nora get captured. Agreed, the girl practically flung herself into the birds, that was her fighting style. Jaune had Crocea Mors, the only way for HIM to fight was up close and personal.

If only Noah was here, that was a man she'd know would get her son back. Hell, anyone on her old team would suffice. Did Umber already leave with his team? Would it be too much for him to abandon his mission and join her? Maybe he could even drag his team along!

No… that was crossing a boundary. She already had Paris… _uhg._ It left a bad taste in her… brain whenever she thought of that prideful asshole. The only enjoyment she got from him was when she made him scream like a little girl.

"Uh…. Mrs. Arc?"

"Yes Ren?"

"You're gripping a twig that looks a lot like Magnhild, my partner's weapon, like you want to hit something."

Lumen looked down and found that the stick was indeed shaped like Nora's mallet. "Well what do you know, it IS a thing…"

"It happens to everyone eventually," Ren shrugged as Pyrrha sullenly nodded, "also… I don't think we're alone."

Lumen sighed, readying Brochette-sans-Bornes to stab something. Stabbing something could still her festering mind. It had when she was a student, and even as an adult, stabbing some of the hay bales at the edge of Brule after an incredibly frustrating day. Her weapon was good at stabbing, and she was ready to stab.

"I don't see anything," Pyrrha whispered.

"That's what frightens me," Ren noted, and Lumen nodded along. She was happy having this boy on her son's team. _I just need to get my son back… also Nora, I feel kinda bad about that._

But at first, she had to take care of whatever…. Surrounded them. She had an idea, "Ren, what's your semblance?"

"Huh?"

"Ren, what is your semblance?"

"Simple, it's-" Ren was suddenly pounced by something. _I had a feeling that was going to be interrupted._ She turned around quickly, pulling the trigger and letting her foil extend to whatever just attacked the resident ninja.

With a satisfying squelch of a properly stabbed monster of darkness, Lumen retracted the foil to look at her pray. It was lizard-like, the typical bone plates of a Grimm laced on its back, but not enough to fully shield itself from violence. The beast did have long claws like a Beowulf's, not enough to wipe a head clean off, but enough to dig out your insides if left to its own devices. She looked at it for a while before realizing what it was… "Oum great."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked as Ren slowly got up.

"A Camo." Lumen growled, looking around for more, not that it would help. "Ren, would you like to exposition for me?"

"Camos are the Grimm versions of chameleons." Ren said simply as he pulled out his sleeve-gun-things. He said nothing else.

"Oh… well that's simple… wait, does that mean they're invisible?"

"Camouflaged," Lumen replied, "not invisible. If that was the case they'd be called 'Invises,' not 'Camos.'"

"Oh…" Pyrrha blushed, "I'm sorry, I'm not used to not knowing things. Usually I'm the one who gives exposition."

"Why haven't you studied much about Grimm?… Come to think of it, I see you reading a Grimm book all the time…" Ren queried.

"It's definitely not a cover that I use to hide romantic help books!... Also, I don't snore!"

"Pyrrha… no offense," Lumen looked at the girl, "but when you try to lie, do try to avoid telling the truth."

Pyrrha blushed, but suddenly reacted with a small shift in the leaves. Her sword thing sliced a Camo in half, the dying bastard reverting back to its black color.

Suddenly, Lumen could hear the shuffling and shifting of leaves and vines and the scurries of clawed feet. _This should be fun…. Oh by Oum tell me my Jaune is okay._

* * *

Jaune and Nora floated gently down into the jungle floor. Feathers of dead Grimm fluttered alongside them as their feet caressed the unsullied mud and foilage. Jaune sighed as he enjoyed the fact the ground wasn't shifting, flapping, or in general not hundreds of feet beneath him. He walked around, wobbling a bit, having to adjust to NOT being on a giant bird or floating in a mystical dog-summoned ball of anti-gravity.

"Okay, that was intense, but good job Zwei! Now let's rejoin the…" Jaune looked down to see Zwei's eyes were closed, deeply breathing at his feet. "Um… Zwei… they're probably really worried…."

"And Zwei is really tired, he did just create a storm that somehow had the suction to attract a full flock of Nevermores… including an Alpha! I think he deserves a nap!" Nora picked up the sleeping dog and put her in her backpack.

"But our team, my Mom! Oh god, she's always scariest when she's worried…. Oh I'm getting the middling evil eye when I get back."

"'Middling?'"

"It's like a jumpscare in an effective horror movie."

"Ah." Nora started looking at her scroll, wandering around.

"Looking for a signal?"

"What's a signal? Never heard of that one… OH! A Shiftypoof!"

Jaune sighed, "like I needed to ask." He brought out his own scroll, seeing a text from Pyrrha asking how the mission with the Parasites was going. Jaune assumed that wasn't the question she had now… he sent his own text.

 _Nora and I are okay, we'll reconvene with you all as soon as possible._

"How many more do you need for the Wistyfloof?" Jaune turned to the girl who excitedly looked at her scroll, flicking the screen like it was the second most fun thing she could imagine doing, giggling that beautiful giggle all the while…. _Uh… normal giggle. I didn't think beautiful._ Jaune shook that thought out of his head.

Nora pouted that beautiful pout. "Like a million…. Okay only ten, but considering how I rarely find them…. The equivalent to a million Rodentitas."

Jaune laughed, "don't waste your battery, if we get separated I'd like to find you."

"Oh it's okay!" Nora arched her arm to angle her scroll behind her back and whistled slightly.

A rustle in her pack brought the sleepy dog out of it, and with a small glow of its eyes, Zwei stared at the scroll until it dinged notifying full battery. The dog slinked back into the pack to resume its nap.

Jaune felt his eyelids half-close as he slouched forwards. "Really?"

"Charging a scroll is MUCH easier than carrying us across the jungle!"

"No, I get that, I mean…. You taught him how to charge your scroll?"

Nora laughed, "duh! Remember how I said if we could see if we could change his laser eyes to simply radiate energy?"

"….you did that so you could…. Nevermind." Jaune sighed, "well, if Zwei is too tired to take us back, we might as well meet up with the crew." Jaune pulled up his scroll and looked at the leader tracker. It couldn't be too accurate, due to the spotty connection, but it was better than nothing, and at least would dictate a direction. He oriented the compass, determined the direction, and made his pathing.

"All right, let's head this way." Jaune pointed in a direction and Nora nodded, smiling and prancing up to walk alongside him. Her skips were energized with the electricity that coursed through her veins…. Wait a minute.

"Why couldn't YOU charge your scroll?"

"Duh! I don't have a power outlet!" That was the only explanation Jaune was going to get, which he couldn't complain too much. At least her answer made some kind of sense. Still didn't explain how Zwei staring at the thing charged it, but to be fair Jaune had given up on science and sense in describing Zwei's abilities. It was just that whole dichotomy of aura and Grimm that the dog wielded. It was enough.

The sun moved across the sky, its beams bathing the green foliage with warmth and light. The fragments of the rays allowed for relaxing sunspots peppered with cool shade, making the walk, while humid, bearable in the temperature department. Bugs buzzed, birds chirped, and Nora hummed to a song that Jaune couldn't recognize. He wiped some sweat from his brow as they continued together throughout the day, as Zwei peacefully napped in Nora's pack.

"What are you humming?" Jaune asked casually, looking over at the shorter girl, who had a big smile on her face as she walked to the song.

She straightened, and looked at him. "Uh…. A song I made up?"

Jaune chuckled, "and how does it go?…"

"I… uh…." Nora blushed slightly, bowing her head slightly before arcing it back up to meet his gaze. She then raised her hand, curled up all her fingers except for her pointer, and then touched Jaune's nose.

"Boop!"

Jaune lurched his head back, "Boop?"

"It's the name of the song," Nora returned her hand, clasping it with her other, and ducking her entire body away from Jaune, despite her eyes refusing to stop the eye contact. "Let's just say Pyrrha's attempt to write a song inspired me slightly."

"Pyrrha wrote a… oh yeah." Jaune recalled with a blush of his own that moment when Nora openly tried to read from his partner's diary. "So… is this about someone you crushing on?"

"I…. uh…. y-you could say that."

Jaune laughed, "I know you have a crush on Ren, you told me yourself. No reason to feel embarrassed."

Nora sighed, loudly. "Yeah, it was… I mean IS… about Ren. Definitely meant to say 'is' not 'was,' because it certainly isn't in the past."

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle, though some of it came from surprise. "Nora, if you've moved on from Ren, you don't have to lie about it. Also, as my Mom always said, if you HAVE to tell a lie, you should avoid telling the truth."

Nora nervously chuckled, "yeah… that is pretty stupid… my attempt to lie not your mom's phrase."

"So…" Jaune oddly finding himself curious, "who's the lucky guy?"

"YOUuuuuu may know him."

Jaune couldn't help but find the slight teasing in her voice rather humorous. "Well, as long as it's no one from Team CRDL or BLDD, you have my blessing!"

"I don't need your blessing!" Nora's eyes widened as if she just realized what she said was wrong. "Well…"

Jaune laughed, "I know you don't, I'm just saying you'd have it." He couldn't help but give pause, "does… does Ren know that you've… well…."

"He knows." Nora confirmed, nodding. "Figured it out all by himself, figures. That guy has eyes like a sloth I say! A sloth!"

"I'm starting to think you don't understand what a sloth is Nora….."

"Okay, maybe I don't! I just love the word, SLOTH! I mean, c'mon! Say it with me! Sl-awwth! It has such a… woody sound to it, like a fine wine, only it's a word!"

"Remind me to watch 'Analyzing the Dictionary with Nora Valkyrie' on PSB sometime…"

"Hm… you know, it could actually work! We could even shorten the title, like 'Anal the Dic with Nora Valky….' Oum my Monty never mind." Nora's eyes widened in self-loathing horror as Jaune lost it with laughter. He valued himself a classy individual, but it was always the simple joy of a girl as innocent appearing as Nora saying something like…. Well… that.

"I won't tell anyone you said that," Jaune said in between his guffaws as Nora's face was redder than Yang's eyes after a haircut. Her head bowed and she burbled and mumbled and grumbled and sighed. Jaune raised his hand and tousled Nora's hair.

"Relax, trust me, I've said worse things in front of more people!" Jaune's voice was still laced with a chuckle that refused to go away. "You know, you've never hit me as the person who'd be so embarrassed."

"I can TOTES be embarrassed!" Nora exclaimed, immediately shrinking back as if it was louder than she thought it was. "I just… well… maybe I hide it well, but I am NOT one to never be embarrassed!"

"Really?"

"Well, there was that time when Glynda ratted me out for borrowing her useless weapon in front of what was effectively the entire school. Also when Paris was chewing me out in front of you guys…" Nora gestured to Jaune, "that was slightly embarrassing. Though never as embarrassing when Pyrrha caught me reading…. Fan-fiction people wrote about her."

"You're kidding! You read that?"

"I was curious!" Nora defended, "and trust me, I feel that Pyrrha is THIS close," Nora lifted her hand and fingers to present an infinitesimal distance, "to showing you it to make your thoughts about her more dirty!"

"I…. well, tell her I'm not interested. I don't need to read OTHER people's fantasies about my friends."

"So you DO have fantasies about Pyrrha."

Jaune felt himself stop, his feet suddenly confronted with the friction of the ground. "I… uh…." he suddenly felt his face growing red.

"….do you have… fantasies about anyone OTHER than Pyrrha…. And Weiss?"

"You know what? I get more embarrassed than you in these types of topics…. Can we go back to how you were to 'analyze' a 'dictionary?'"

"What… is that one of your fantasies?"

"Wait… what?" Jaune then realized what Nora meant, "NORA!"

"….what?" Nora gave a sheepish grin, the reddish tinge on her cheeks receding with her beautiful if not mildly guilty laughter.

* * *

Why did she have to be so short? Like seriously, she knew she was the youngest on the team but this was ridiculous! She REALLY should get used to heels. Like, Weiss wore them all the time, how hard could it be? Just nothing flashy though, she hated being all fancy and show-offy and stuff.

"Ruby! What's taking you so long!"

"It's DEFINITELY not me trying to reach into this cookie jar that is placed on this really high shelf in this sweet's store! It's DEFINITELY not that!"

A deep yet soft laugh came from behind her, and she turned to the man that also helped to remind her that she was unusually short. To be fair he was supposedly unusually tall, receiving an official medical diagnosis of genetic gigantism.

"My team-mate once said, 'if you're going to lie, avoid telling the truth.'" Umber grabbed the cookie jar with ease, "how many were you planning on paying for?" He gave a small smile from his high perch. Ruby couldn't help but think their guide, at least with the context of last year's Dr. Oobleck, to be SO COOL! His weapon was a sword-drill, something SHE'D personally never seen before, and his outfit was… was…

Haunting. It was a dusty, worn, old Mantlese military getup. She shook her head and placed her brain in the temporarily important situation at hand.

"I dunno… how much per cookie?"

"Hm… five Lien each."

"Hey Weiss! How much is your allowance?" Ruby called out from the store, only for her to receive a "not this time Ruby!" Once again Umber chuckled.

"I'll get you one cookie," the man walked to the store-front as Ruby followed, "while having vices is indeed human, you must recognize them as such… vices."

Ruby pouted, hoping to win over the massive huntsman with her adorable gaze that brought civilizations down to their knees…. At least that's how Yang described it.

It didn't work on the man, as he granted the Lien and passed the cookie to the leader. "Those are great puppy dog eyes, Ruby. But don't waste them on someone like me, I've seen them on legitimately starving miner children."

Ruby blushed, a small wave a guilt pressing through her consciousness. "I… mean… I… don't want to trivialize your…"

He raised a hand, "it's nothing against you..." He smiled, paying another five Lien for a cookie for himself. He lowered the cookie to Ruby's cookie's level. "Cheers."

Ruby giggled, "cheers."

They walked out to find the team waiting outside, with Weiss tapping her 'I'm going to be patient foot,' with Blake reading her scroll… possibly an e-book she downloaded. Blake always preferred corporeal copies… but she was limited out on the 'field,' despite the township of Mulan not necessarily being off the beaten path.

Nevertheless, their mission was interesting. A month ago, some really big Grimm showed up. Like… a Grimm that only existed far out into the Grimmlands where people couldn't live. That was WEIRD! Naturally, Grimm attacks had increased slightly due to increased paranoia in the town. However, thankfully nothing of the magnitude of what happened a month ago.

As to what brought it a month ago, no one knew.

Their job was not only to secure public forest trails from the Grimm's destruction, and secure the town, but also see if they could solve the mystery of the Mega-Grimm's arrival…. Ugh, it was going to drive her nuts, what was that monster called again?

"So… when are we going to face the Wife-Beater?" Yang asked, clasping her hands together. _Oh yeah! That's it…. No… it's not._ She'll just wait for Weiss to correct her.

Weiss huffed, "Slaggeater, Yang." _I knew it!... That Weiss would know._ "And we aren't facing it! Trust me, if there WAS a present Slaggeater, WE wouldn't be called to take care of it unless if this village believed in virgin sacrifices!"

Weiss than scuttled up to Umber and, attempting to whisper in his ear, but failing and reaching his tricep, "we aren't here as virgin sacrifices, right? I have an important legacy to uphold and a company to run when I am of age." Ruby stifled a giggle.

"No. You are not." Umber replied simply, "we are simply here to clear excess populations of Grimm caused by its presence. Encourage those who are remaining away post-evacuation to return to their homes, safe."

"Who killed it?" Ruby wondered why no one asked that question. It seemed important, like not important to THEIR mission, but important to know who could take down a feared creature.

"You assistant headmistress actually, from what I've been told."

"Wait really! Ooh I could believe it! I'm the only one here that actually saw her full on fight!" Ruby put her arms akimbo as she gave a smile, "she was like 'point' and….. 'point….' Well, the stuff flying through the air was much more exciting! It was all _woosh!_ And _pow!_ And…."

"Didn't you say the people she was attacking escaped?" Weiss reminded Ruby of the rather disappointing end.

"You know, if she's a telekinetic, why didn't she just yank that weird lady from the bullhead?... Why didn't she just drag the bullhead down?" Yang crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow, much to a heavy sigh from Blake.

"Her semblance doesn't affect anything with an aura. Have you SEEN her move a person? As for the bullhead….. I can imagine that isn't easy while fighting someone." Blake's eyes returned to her scroll as a mild blush covered her face. She must be reading something quite romantic!

"Well, how am I supposed to know? I was up in the air when she was fixing the cafeteria!"

"You may want to reign in your team and come up with a plan." Ruby heard the tall man whisper in her ear. She nodded.

She put her fingers in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. "Okay, partners will split up! Yang, since you are so eager to fight something, you go to the perimeter, see if any excess Grimm are wandering too close to the township. Weiss and I will ask around, see if we could get information to the circumstances that brought the Bag-Freaker…"

"…Slaggeater…" Weiss corrected.

"….Slaggeater, yeah, that thing. We'll see if we can figure out what's made it show up!"

"I'll go with Yang and Blake," Umber said as he walked towards the team. "I want to be there just in case something happens."

"Oh don't worry big guy, nothing will happen with Yang and Blake on the case!" Yang shifted her hips and pointed her thumb towards her partner. "Did we tell you how we fought an entire White Fang terrorist cell?"

"You introduced yourself to me with that." Umber replied, as they started walking off, leaving Ruby alone with Weiss.

"So BFF! You ready to interrogate an entire town!" Ruby grafted an open smile towards her partner, who simply rolled her eyes.

"Interrogate is a harsh word, Ruby. More like… investigate." Ruby chuckled as Weiss started walking in a direction as Ruby followed.

"So… I know I'm the leader and all but… like, what type of people should we ask? What type of questions? I…. really don't know why I gave myself the task that required talking to people, to be honest."

"You subconsciously wanted to learn from me and my superior social skills, clearly!" Weiss continued strutting in that same direction.

"Yeah! Maybe," Ruby started looking around the village. "So… uh… where are we headed?"

"Town hall of course, it's not like someone with the answers we're seeking is just going to walk up to us!"

There was silence as Ruby and Weiss walked.

"I said, it's not like someone with the answers we're seeking is just going to walk up to us!"

Once again, only silence followed Weiss's remark.

"Huh, that usually works."

Ruby cocked her head, "what works?"

"Whenever I say that something I wanted isn't just going to show up, it normally shows up!"

"Question, does that have ANYTHING to do that you were surrounded by servants growing up?"

"I…. damn it." Weiss mumbled as Ruby giggled. They continued walking, "also, are you SURE we're headed the right direction towards city hall?"

"I am positive that we are heading in the right direction!"

"….you're just saying that because we're heading in the 'right' direction from where we were, aren't you?"

"RUBY! I don't know where you got the idea that I get easily lost…"

"…initiation…"

"… that was one time! But I assure you that- Ruby! Where are you going?"

Ruby walked up to a random guy. His eyes perked up when Ruby walked up to him, he seemed around her age, come to think of it. "Hey, me and my friend…"

"My friend and I!"

"…yeah, that nice lady over there. We are here to investigate the whole Slaggeater thing your village had, so…. Can you direct us to the town hall?"

The boy stared in Ruby's eyes, blinking every now and then, his eyes moving up and down her short form. It didn't seem predatory as much as it was like she was when she saw Goodwitch or when Qrow brought home friends. _OMG a Huntress!_

"Uh…. well… you ARE headed the wrong way…. It's on the other side of town…."

"HAH!" Ruby turned around and pointed at Weiss, who simply crossed her arms and scowled. Ruby turned once again to the nerve-struck boy. "Well thank you for-"

"But! But…. I… I could show you something better. Something I… I think is directly related to the… worm attack."

"Really?" Ruby once again cocked her head, "what?"

"There…. There was an asteroid that crossed the sky and impacted our village. Shortly afterwards, the Grimm Worm appeared."

"Oooooh, eenteresting!"

"It's just a tall tale, Ruby, don't listen to him." Weiss walked up to Ruby and took her arm. "We will be heading to the town hall, thank you."

"I can show you the crater!" The boy piped his voice up. "It's… filled in now but the grass has yet to fully cover it."

Ruby tugged back on Weiss, "I mean, if he has proof…"

Weiss huffed, "it could just be a hole he dug up…. But if it humors you. Fine, show us to your 'crater.'" Weiss gave a sardonic look to the boy, who seemed to ignore it and led them through the weaving gravel streets. They turned and walked and twisted and ducked under an incredibly lowly elevated sign until they came upon a mound of dirt, clearly not fresh, yet the grass was still only creeping upon the earth. It looked like a balding man's scalp, if grass could be considered hair.

Ruby giggled as that reminded her of her father's current condition. He'll deny it, but it was true.

"I saw it Arc across the sky, and like a descending Valkyrie it impacted the earth in a boisterous rumble…."

"…this kid is trying to become a poet…" Weiss mumbled into Ruby's ear, forcing her to stifle a laugh.

"…and lo! People emerged. Two figures and a dog came from the rubble of their impact….."

"….wait what?" Ruby was seriously confused. That made no sense. The boy didn't seem to acknowledge her exclamation.

"A boy of blonde hair: armored hoodie, sword and shield. And a ginger girl: hammer and eyes most turquoise."

"Uh….." _That…. That has to be a coincidence right? Jaune isn't the ONLY person to possibly wear armor plating on a hoodie, right? And hammers are common weapons!... Well…. less common than swords yet more common that scythes._

"And then, up hopped the black and white corgi, whom the boy named Zwei to the famous Pyrrha Nikos."

"WHAT?" Ruby was unable to react to that when Weiss shrieked, immediately dashing to the boy, who was lost in poetic monologue. She grasped him by the shoulders, forced him to look her in the eyes, "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING RIGHT NOW?"

The boy somehow did not seemed perturbed by Weiss's sudden outburst. "How the heroes arrived so gallantly, and it was then that the forces of evil decided to summon a beast that would match their power." The boy suddenly became sheepish, clearly his rehearsed words exhausted. "I… mean…. How could they arrive on a comet?"

Ruby and Weiss looked at each other. "So…. That mission where they brought the dog…." Weiss started.

"Was the day the Slaggeater came to Mulan." Ruby finished.

"Indeed, those two were in the forest fighting the beast, while Pyrrha and some oriental guy ran around helping civilians before those Beacon profs showed up. I mean, that's what I assume happened since those two WEREN'T around the village, I should know!"

"How?" Weiss challenged

"I was there!"

"Where you EVERYWHERE? Did you see EVERYTHING?"

"Uh…."

Weiss sighed, "kid, could you just… let me talk with my partner for a minute." Her hand graced her head as she shook it side to side. The boy meekly bowed, for some reason, and then scampered off.

"What do we do?" Weiss asked.

"We confront Jaune about it when we get back. But we DON'T tell Yang, last thing we need is her over-reacting about this." Ruby HATED keeping secrets from her sister, but this wasn't a secret to keep her safe or to control her rage. Yang was just impetuous, and Ruby did NOT need Yang jumping to conclusions NOW. She'll tell her after she got the story from Jaune, it was only fair.

"Makes sense… so…. The Slaggeater appeared shortly after Jaune and Nora arrived, with Pyrrha already there…" Weiss crossed her arms, bowing her head in thought.

"Remember, Jaune told us Pyrrha and Ren were off doing something that month ago… this must've been the thing." Ruby pointed out.

" _Could_ they have attracted the Slaggeater?"

"Who knows…." Ruby looked at the forest line that could be seen from the village. There, Yang, Blake, and Umber were probably patrolling, possibly killing some Grimm as well…. that sounded like fun.

Maybe instead of trying to solve this mystery they clearly didn't have all the pieces to, they should join up with them… maybe Ruby could confide in Umber… he WAS a professional huntsman after all.

"Let's meet up with the others, tell them we didn't get any leads." Ruby ordered, "I'll see if I could get a private talk with Umber."

Weiss nodded, "can I be there when you do?"

"Aww, do you want to support me?"

"NO!" Weiss's defensive glare softened, "I mean, sure, why not. But I want to make sure you don't waste his time by talking about… I don't know… cookies for twenty minutes!"

"Weiss, have more faith in me than that!" Ruby pouted, "…I would only talk about cookies for five, ten minutes tops!"

Weiss sighed as Ruby continued to chuckle. She loved her team.

* * *

They had been walking for a while, and Zwei was still soundly asleep in her pack. Nora was starting to wonder if he was out of air and was dead. So she checked. Nope, still snoring. Though not as horrifically as Pyrrha.

Maybe if they camp out here, she wouldn't have to hear it for one night. She had earplugs, but she could still hear the sound of a fat dog farting into bubble wrap.

Maybe she could also sneak a cuddle in… no. She didn't even dare to do that with Ren, even if she knew the boy would simply tolerate it. She wouldn't dare encroach upon Jaune's personal space while he's sleeping, the most vulnerable anyone was.

"Is Zwei still asleep?" Jaune asked for the umpteenth time. Nora would've been annoyed if it weren't for the fact Jaune wasn't asking on behalf of himself, but for the team.

"Has Pyrrha responded to your text."

"Only with 'Very busy, be back soon. Love you.'"

"WHAT?"

"Must be pretty busy if she forgot to delete that part…." Jaune chuckled.

Nora sighed, "you really need to… I don't know if 'fix' is the word…." Nora had been avoiding that topic for the whole walk, because she didn't know how to approach it. It made things awkward, but it didn't really damage anything. It was a subtle change. A maddening subtlety that Nora felt could only be exacerbated if she tried to fix it herself. It had to be between Jaune and Pyrrha… and she hoped Jaune had an answer, because she definitely didn't have one.

"I get it…" Jaune rubbed his face. "But not now. I CAN'T fix it with Pyrrha's dad present and my Mom there as well…"

"Maybe…" Nora sighed, "… just, after this mission. Ren and I could leave the room, or stay in the room… or…"

"Nora," she felt Jaune's hand on her shoulder, she looked up to see his eyes and smile looking at her. Not looking at his team. Not looking at Pyrrha. Not looking at something she said that was funny. Looking at her. "Thank you."

"…thank y-I mean, you're welcome." Her steps slowed as she looked around her. They had just entered a clearing. The setting sun's light gave the full place a comforting orange hue, with a small little pond resting in the center. Droplets from wet leaves dripped into the pool, ripples expanding rhythmically in the pristine, clear water. Fireflies started to emerge, moving like tiny green stars fluttering in a soft breeze.

"It's… beautiful." Nora whispered.

"Yes, not extravagant but… beautiful in its simplicity." Nora turned once again to the equally whispering Jaune, who also seemed mildly enamored by the nature.

"Normally in the wilderness, we're fighting for survival, we rarely just… stare at small beautiful scenes like this." Nora couldn't find her usual silly words, just her mind making words, weaving experiences into vernacular. She realized that Jaune was once again facing her.

"Yeah…. I guess so."

Nora did not shift her gaze. Neither did Jaune. They just sort of…. stared, as green fire-flies danced among their faces. Jaune's already bright face seemed to glow from the flies and the backdrop of orange light making it… making it…

 _Nora, just say it._ It sounded a lot like Ren's voice, actually. No, she couldn't. Jaune was already dealing with Pyrrha, she couldn't throw more drama into the ring.

 _The Nora I know doesn't let silly drama effect what she has to do._ That sounded like Jaune's voice. She didn't think Jaune ever SAID that to her, ever, but it did sound like something he would say.

"Jaune I-" she sighed, bit her tongue, then raised her finger, and poked Jaune on the nose. "Boop."

Jaune seemed to realize he was staring for uncomfortably long, and shook himself, face blushing. "Sorry… guess I… spaced out there."

"Yep, me too."

"OUM MY MONTY I'M GOING TO DIE!" Nora and Jaune were jerked back into attention when a familiar, usually much more poised voice interrupted their moment. _Welp, time to save the day again._

* * *

Hard brass boots stomped along the trees, branches of the canopy groaning and shaking the leaves from its heights. Paris kept his eyes on the sky, following the trail of drifting Nevermore feathers. He was just thankful that Nevermores had a proclivity towards shedding, made them among the easiest Grimm to track.

He had to save Jaune. He had to. It was his responsibility, and he failed earlier. Agreed, Jaune should've been more alert about the flying birds, but so should've he. He was so focused on giving the kids a lesson that he forgot his purpose of being there in the first place: protect the children.

His armor was heavy and the climate humid and hot, yet he did not care. He had aura control to keep him cool, and endurance to make his armor feel more like an extension of skin rather than a weight to his body. He held his sword at the ready, just in case any creatures DARED to cross his path. He wasn't revered in Mistral for nothing. His combat against both human and Grimm was well respected.

Still, he missed it when his semblance failed to give him an edge. Like her daughter, his semblance was more oriented towards huntsmen duals than anything else: EMP. He could make an electromagnetic pulse that effectively shut down any electronics. It certainly neutered any Atlesian who dared fight him during his school years.

However, he was far from technology. His foes did not use complicated electrical tools, but claws, horns, fangs… natural organic weaponry evolved onto their body. The human was weak in nature, but survived for its ingenuity and harmony with tools. The Grimm needn't tools, they were the weapon: the tool themselves.

The leaves above him started to shake. _Speak of the Grimm, and they shall appear._ An oddly true idiom. Grimm invoked fear, sadness and anger. Think of the Grimm, or speak of them, and they shall appear.

He ducked and rolled, firmly kneeling as he withdrew his sword into a guarding stance. His feet balanced on the mighty branches as suddenly a darkling arc of pouncing Gibbouses descended upon his position. The usually nocturnal monkey Grimm were annoying and lethal in numbers, but Paris couldn't help but grin.

 _It must be nearing night for these to show up._ He shifted the sword into a shield and angled it against the organized pounce. A horde of shrieking monkeys collided with the shield, and Paris forcibly pushed up, shoving them off of his perch in the winding branches of the trees. Those that remained on his level would die to regret it, as he shifted it back to the great-sword as he slashed through them all with ease. He looked down to see those he knocked off quickly scurrying back up. If their wish for death was so fervent it would be best for him to comply.

They leaped up at him, their tiny yet sharp claws aimed for slashing, and their frightening fangs bared for biting. They were too quick for him to orient his sword properly, but that didn't matter. He made an arcing hook with his fist that knocked the Gibbouses away from him. His sword became a shield as he oriented it upwards, stopping the aerial assault. Gibbouses were known for being in packs of many, and they NEVER attacked all at once.

They scraped at his shield stupidly, and Paris was once again going to force them off, leaving them open for a great arcing swipe until….

He heard slithering. And claws. But he only heard, he couldn't see. _Ah…. Camos. The fight becomes more interesting._ He dropped from the branches. While height advantage WAS a thing, freedom of movement was also a thing. And when it came to single-handedly taking down hordes, his experience declared freedom of movement more important.

He shifted it to the sword, impaling descending Gibbouses as he kept his senses acute for an inevitable pounce from a Camo. It wasn't a pounce, as he felt something try to press against his feet, attempting to trip him. He looked down to see nothing, but there was something… off about one patch of 'air.' He stabbed it, causing the thing to screech and return to its black color. _Fool, do you think yourself powerful enough to topple what is, to you, a giant?_

The fighting continued. He stabbed. He slashed. He blocked. He rammed. He kicked. He punched. And he took all those things and combined them into a brutal dance. He was not graceful like Pyrrha, that much is true. Possibly that's why Pyrrha was more famous than he had ever been. Still, he was strong. And he was deadly.

As smoke and Grimm blood splattered the area, Paris thought it was almost over, and he realized why he was here, out there in the jungle away from everyone else: to save Jaune.

 _Still, it would do us no favors to drag this pack along with me. Besides: Never Give Up. Never Surrender. Never Flee._

A column of vines suddenly erupted around him, knocking down trees in their wake. _What the?_ The vines started to grow… Grimm? Gibbouses, visible Camos, Beowulves, Creeps…. _Wait… No. Oh Oum no._

A massive thing grew from the dirt, more trees falling, but some being… consumed by the ground beneath them, sinking into the mud as if it was quicksand. Paris wasn't paying attention to the trees however, he was more horrified as a black, oozing bulb emerged. It pulsed with energy, a reddish copper ooze creeping out of the enclosed petals.

And then the petals opened up, revealing rows of sharp teeth, with a squeal and cackle at once emerging from the dripping maw, not of saliva but of something that seemed sticky and… almost sweet smelling.

 _An….. An Aphrodite._

He couldn't help it. It was a good thing no one was around to record his last words.

"OUM MY MONTY I'M GOING TO DIE!"

* * *

 **A/N: That Grimm is called "Aphrodite" because of its inspiration from a "Venus Fly Trap." Don't expect to see ALL the Class M Grimm that I named in this fic, but the Aphrodite will not be the ONLY one that we'll see in this arc.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! This Fic does NOT endorse Analyzing someone's Dictionary until you know them well and at least trust them a lot.**


	21. Another Dogged Contender

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

"That sounded like Commander Nikos!" Jaune exclaimed, his feet slamming the forest floor.

"Really, I thought it sounded like a baby that just had its lollipop stolen from him." Nora responded.

"Remember how he screamed when Mom… well, stared at him?"

"….oh yeah."

Jaune should've known that Commander Nikos would've looked for him, he seemed like that type. He'd give you crap while he worked for you, and he'd probably give you more crap after he rescued you, but he'd still do both. Typical huntsman trait he admired.

Black vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, weaving and coiling through the foliage. _Oum great, this DOESN'T remind me of something else._ Every time something sprouted from the ground he couldn't help but remember that damn worm…. From a literal worm to a groundhog to an Oobleck head popping out from an on campus excavation.

"Looks like we have company!" Nora yelled as the vines started bearing fruit of… Grimm? Weird monkey things to Creeps started popping down as if the vines themselves were skinny Parasite nests. Jaune didn't need to ask 'why' to know that he should pull out Crocea Mors and prepare to fight.

Nora was way ahead of him though, shooting Grenades at the roots of the vines, forcing them to limply lay along the ground, then shifting to the hammer to swat Grimm like they were nothing more than insects.

The limp vines suddenly shook like tortured snakes, shuffling along the ground away from them as if in retreat. Good, but Jaune had a feeling he had to keep that direction where the vines were heading.

"Nora, push forward, we need to get to Commander Nikos…. Is Zwei ready?" Jaune swung at his attackers, blocking swipes and swiping at openings.

"….. we're pulling out Zwei in front of Papa Nikos?" Nora looked at Jaune with her eyes widened.

"Wherever he is, he thinks he's in a position to die…. And if Pyrrha's father thinks he'll die…."

"Got it!" Nora looked over her shoulder, jostling her back with aggressive shrugs. Zwei popped up from within, eyes blinking and muzzle yawning. Jaune would've found it cute if it weren't for the fact he was busy decapitating an aggressive inaptly named Creep.

After a moment or two as the dog smacked its lips, it seemed to look around and noticed that it was needed. It hopped from the pack and barked, knocking their minor Grimm opponents away from them. Jaune breathed a sigh of relief as he reveled in the space he finally had to himself, before steeling himself into a running stance. He pointed the blade of Crocea Mors ahead of him. "Charge!"

Nora, Zwei, and himself ran into the forest, towards where they heard Paris cry out. Vines starting jutting out on their sides, but they ignored them. If Commander Nikos was in trouble… well….

Jaune would NOT want the guilt of a Pyrrha crying on his shoulder, because he failed to protect someone when he could.

* * *

"The sun's getting low, we should set up camp. Has your father responded to your texts?" Lumen turned to face Pyrrha, who was looking at her scroll with a blush, a dash of regret, and a hope. She didn't respond, so Jaune's mother swiped the scroll from her hand with urgency.

"No wait!" Pyrrha did NOT want Lumen to read through her recent texts, she already had the mild embarrassment of Jaune himself reading them. She extended her arm and activated her semblance, dragging the scroll out of Lumen's hand, "Dad hasn't responded, and I guess Jaune is waiting for me to reply since we were… busy."

"Damn right…." Lumen sighed, seemingly uncaring of Pyrrha's recent action, "stupid Camos." After a grunt she looked around the small clearing they found. "Ren, could you go out and get some dry, combustible wood? Pyrrha and I will set up the tents. Don't stray too far, okay? Fire some shots if you need assistance with something lethal."

Ren silently nodded and went into the trees. Lumen reached into her pack and brought out supplies for tents.

"So…. Your semblance is telekinesis of some kind, since you just yanked that scroll out of my hand."

Pyrrha felt herself blush. _Damn._ She always tried to keep her semblance a secret. Not only because it allowed her an advantage in every battle, but also because it was such a damn good semblance. Many people would just forfeit if they had to fight her; wouldn't even bother to fight because she could take their tools and make them do a little dance.

"It's…. polarity," Pyrrha admitted, earning a smirk from Lumen. She dumped the metal tent stands on the ground.

"Stupid way to say 'ferrokinesis' if I say so myself." She shrugged off her pack, "Well, that would make this easier for you, set up the tents will you?"

"And what will you do?"

"Supervise, that is my job here."

Pyrrha sighed, but she knew better than to challenge her. She was an adult, a respected huntress… well, she _was_ a huntress. Apparently one that fought during the fall of Mantle. While that hadn't been classified as a war, it certainly wasn't a petty squabble done overnight… it was a month of huntsmen and military forces going at it hard. Supposedly, it wasn't pretty.

But she'd never met someone who was actually there….

"So… uh… I understand it's a touchy subject, but…" Pyrrha started as she raised her hands to start setting up the tents. The covers weren't metallic, but the stands were, it was easy enough.

"…I'll talk about Atlas… if you talk about how long you've had a crush on my son…"

Pyrrha felt herself freeze as the tents fell down to the ground with a pathetic 'flap' of the tent covers. "I…. uh…. well…. uh….." Words no longer existed, only the guttural sounds of her throat could be considered real. What were words? Is a dictionary useless? What are thoughts even? She didn't understand her own brain!

"It isn't that difficult to figure out, Pyrrha." Lumen sat down on a log, "your eyes were practically magnetized to him, and Paris's words and actions towards him certainly indicated that you…. were attached to him, and conveyed that to him at an earlier date. I'm not stupid, Pyrrha."

Pyrrha still could only stutter, much to Lumen's amusement. She crossed her arms and legs, never letting that smirk leave her face. "It's fine, I almost feel sorry for you. Jaune doesn't seem like an easy guy to get with. He isn't stupid but he's quick to assume things as 'too good to be true,' and would just attribute it to him overthinking actions."

"He knows," Pyrrha's tongue and voice box finally did their job, "he just… doesn't want to interrupt the team dynamic… or something…" Pyrrha sighed, "he also said, 'I don't know if I love you and I don't know if you love me,' but I do love him! I mean… I…." Pyrrha's red cheeks didn't recede as Lumen raised one eyebrow as far as it could go on her face.

She sighed. "Team relationships… they're… interesting." She leaned forward, uncrossing her arms to rub her eyes. "There was one in MY team, though it only happened in year four, but by Oum was the 'will they won't they' insufferable."

Pyrrha laughed, thinking of her situation, however, there was a question on her mind. "Did… did they work out?"

Lumen's face suddenly got serious. "It's… it's complicated. I don't want to bother you with the details but… no… it didn't."

"Oh…." Pyrrha suddenly looked down, deciding that maybe the tents would be best with her full at-tent-ion….. wait….Dammit Yang.

"But that means nothing in this scenario. You don't seem like an Anise, and I know Jaune is NO WAY like Pluto…. Those two…. Those two did mesh well, but…. You felt either one of them would lead themselves to destruction." Lumen's eyes widened, "not in the way you two would at least," she added quickly. "You would fling yourselves into danger and get yourselves killed…. Those two…. Well, you don't need to know."

"I want to know!" Whatever worries Jaune had that she could put to rest would be great, even if she had to salvage it from relationship problems of two people she had never met or heard of.

"No you don't Pyrrha, trust me, keep all that naiveté that you can. Your father may scoff at it, but it's those days of innocence you cling to keep your sanity… or drugs…. I've heard that's a solution, but as a mother I've decided against it." She chuckled lightly. "So… my son knows you're crushing on him, and is using some 'can't pursue romance within the team,' excuse, right? Or is he?"

"….what do you mean."

"'I don't know if I love you, and I don't know if you love me.' You seem bothered by that line but you fail to observe what it means. Trust me, I raised Jaune… the guy speaks as literal as he can."

"You're telling me I just have to prove I genuinely love him? And…. have him… love me?" Pyrrha started looking into that thought. She had just glossed over that line, hadn't she?

"That's the thing, how DO you prove it? Not to him. Not to me. But to yourself? What interests you about my son?" Pyrrha suddenly felt put on the spot, only for Lumen to raise her hands as a sign of peace. "I may have… protective tendencies…. But trust me, considering the crap I had to deal with my daughters in that regard, I've toned down on trying to interfere with his love life… I won't scare you off."

Pyrrha sighed. "He… he treats me like a human being. I'm not some champion, I'm not 'the Invincible Girl,' I'm his partner, his friend…. I'm Pyrrha… just Pyrrha to him."

"….First person to treat you like a normal person." Lumen sighed, "that's what Jaune has a problem with."

"What?"

"You're… placing all that love onto Jaune because… well… he's the guy treated you normally. You love him because… he was a friend first."

"So?"

"Love is more complicated than that, it takes time, it takes work. Noah and I weren't love at first sight, sure we dated soon after our meeting but…. Well…. it didn't really become anything I'd call love until a couple months into the relationship.

"And why did we start dating? Because it was a curiosity, we were on equal footing, not necessarily in battle skill but with expectations.

"Jaune treats you like a normal person…. But from what you've told me, and from what I can infer…. You treat Jaune like your fans treat you. And would you date your fans?"

"I do NOT treat Jaune like my fans treat me! My fans put me on a pedestal, remove my flaws and proclaim support for me regardless of what I do! They don't challenge my character! They just praise me and expect that…. Praise in…. return…."

Lumen raised an eyebrow as Pyrrha talked herself into a hole. _That…. That IS what I've been doing, hasn't it? How the heck could she deduce this? Does her evil eye also read minds?_

"But my fans don't help me! My fans don't try to make me better, reach my potential, they just praise and praise… I've tried to be a meaningful part in Jaune's life!"

"And isn't what all your fans want is to be part of your life? Even if it's not with 'Pyrrha' per say, but that is their goal, their wish… to matter… to you."

"I….I…."

"Look, Pyrrha, you're not a bad person… you're just a fangirl."

At that comment, Pyrrha felt something surge within her. Indignity, embarrassment…. And a hint of fury. She raised her hand and contorted the fencing foil to Lumen's neck. "You… you do NOT talk to me that way…."

"Now I see the Paris in you… can't blame you for your upbringing." Lumen sighed, and stood up, her own sword still pointed at her neck. "Attack me if that makes you feel better, just know your attacking your idol's mother is generally considered a faux pas."

"Jaune is not my idol! Jaune is… Jaune is…. my dream come true….."

Pyrrha released the foil, having it plop down on the ground. "Thank Oum, I thought I'd have to give you the 'stare,' and I don't feel like hearing a girlish shriek." Lumen picked up her foil, a small chuckle in her voice. "Pluto would be so proud of me," she muttered, giving one bemused yet oddly affectionate look towards the blushing and indignant champion.

"Jaune just sees you putting him on a pedestal, the savior that brought the grand Pyrrha Nikos down to the real world where she belonged. He appreciates it like you would but…. Doesn't think that's reason enough to date someone who probably is REALLY important to him. That's what I think, but what do I know, I'm just his mom….

"You know what I'm saying?"

Pyrrha looked down at the ground, then looked back up at Lumen. "Kind of?..."

"I'm not that good a wordsmith, I leave that to Noah."

Pyrrha felt an urge to change the subject. "What was meeting Noah like?..."

"Oh, THAT is a fun story, so it was the Vytal Festival and my team, Team PLUM, just so happened to be going against Team NAME, my husband's team!"

"…team NAME?" Pyrrha couldn't suppress an incredulous chuckle.

"Yeah… they had difficulty naming them, apparently, so they named them 'NAME.'"

"That's not even a color!" Pyrrha started laughing.

"Well… every color has a name. That was Noah's reasoning…" Lumen laughed along with the champion. "So… as I was saying…"

Ren came back to see the camp was not set up at all.

* * *

The vines were starting to sprout more, and the guttural grunt of a manly man became louder. It wasn't Jaune, she may have started being infatuated with Jaune but Nora wouldn't call him 'manly.' No, that had to be Paris Nikos.

A sweet scent enveloped her nose, and she almost stopped to enjoy it. It smelled like the sap of Forever Fall but…. Better. It was like warm honey straight from the honeycomb, if the smell was more powerful. It was like a freshly baked birthday cake, sweet and warm. Nora was wondering what it was.

She looked down and saw Zwei running alongside them. Zwei wasn't doing anything too special, just barking every once and a while to knock some Grimm back. It was probably wise, conserve some strength for…. The….

Big Fight. _Oumly Shit!_

Nora thought it looked like the back of a Dinobud, the one starter Flickemon she had yet to find. Except instead of being small and cute, it was large, and oozing, and…. dripping?

Red substance dripped in-between the 'petals,' it glistened in the sun, making it almost beautiful in the most horrifying of ways. Nora would've fixated longer if it weren't for the fact she sensed a vine coming towards her feet. Nora jumped up, aimed Magnhild, and peppered the gigantic bud with grenades. It didn't seem amused, but it did not seem impressed either. The petals opened and showed the rows of teeth, that were laced with the red substance.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Jaune screamed, with Nora giving a brief look to her darling… ahem…. Leader and quickly shrugging her shoulders, without letting her stance with Magnhild slacken. She looked at Zwei, who looked up at her. It was the look of _don't expect me to take this thing down on my own._

"What the…. GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Nora was suddenly pulled towards one Paris Nikos, who was currently wrestling with legions of Grimm along with an onslaught of vines. "THIS IS AN APHRODITE! I'LL DISTRACT IT WHILE YOU GUYS RETREAT!"

"WHAT ABOUT YOU?" Nora turned to see Jaune screaming back at the commander. The man mumbled something, Nora could've sworn it was something like 'never flee,' but Nora refused that such a condescending prick could also be that stubborn and stupid.

"I'LL DIE A HUNSTMAN'S DEATH AND… IS THAT THAT STUPID DOG? WHAT'S THAT THING DOING THERE?"

Nora turned to Jaune, who gave a soft nod. Oh, she was going to enjoy this….

The bulb expanded and hissed, and unleashed a volley of vines heading towards Nora and Jaune. That didn't even include the Grimm that were sprouting from the horrid foliage.

….she'll enjoy this if she lived.

"Zwei! BOUNCING LASERZ!"

Nora, before the flurry of highly condensed energy with the movement pattern of a Mexican Jumping Bean was unleashed, heard Paris scream, "BOUNCING WHAT NOW?"

"Woof!"

Zwei's eyes glowed and shot out a series of segmented energy blasts that started ricocheting off the trees and Grimm, knocking them down while leaving smoldering marks on their husks. Nora complimented the barrage with her own wave of grenades, capitalizing on the wounds by opening them up with further explosions. Nora couldn't suppress her giggle as she watched the creatures of darkness thin in numbers and the amount of craters thicken in numbers. She looked over her shoulder to see Jaune making his way to Paris, cutting through thick brush and Grimm alike to make sure that Pyrrha's father came back in one piece.

Nora looked at what she assumed Paris called, 'The Aphrodite.' It wasn't anything TOO intimidating. Yes, it had rows of sharp teeth but it was just a plant. A Grimm plant but what was so scary as simply a giant carnivorous flower?

She received her answer as the petals parted, revealing the full maw in all its dripping glory, and sloshing out the sickly thick red juice that laced its insides. Nora assumed it was just its blood but as it started to extend from the pool the flower puked into…

The sweet smell became all the more potent. That wasn't blood! It was like… the sweet stuff in flowers! The things that hummingbirds sucked up… what was it called?

"Nora! Watch your neck…. ARGH!" Nora heard Jaune call out from his position. Nora shifted her gaze to see a vine whipping towards her like it was attempting to slice her head off. She shifted Magnhild and blocked it with her hammer's extended handle.

 _Nectar! That's it!_ Nora looked down to see the viscous liquid slowly creeping up on her position, noticing the smoke that it emitted from the ground, and the clear dying of the grass that laid beneath it showcased it was more than just sweet-flower-syrup. It was like… stomach acid… or something.

Trees started to lose their support in the ground, and started falling like the most depressing game of dominos Nora had ever witnessed. She grabbed Zwei and retreated away from the expanding pool of acidic syrup. She looked for Jaune, who seemed hacking away at vines that seemed entangled with Paris's limbs. "JAUNE!" Nora called, "THE FLOOR IS LAVA!"

"WAIT, REALLY?" Jaune looked down to see the approaching nectar. "THAT'S NOT LAVA THOUGH…"

"IT'S THE SAME IDEA!" Nora cried back. "BESIDES, IT'S RED, LIKE LAVA!"

"THIS ALSO ISN'T TECHNICALLY A FLOOR!" While Jaune seemed to simply be continuing a worthless conversation, he was already retreating to Nora's position with Paris slung over his shoulder. The older huntsman's face was rather dazed, his eyes glazing over everything as he just muttered.

"Eye lasers," he seemed to whisper. "Dog bouncing eye lasers."

"We should let him recover," Jaune laid Paris down on a tree as he faced the mountainous plant that seemed to be hacking up for some projectile vomiting, aimed at them rather than the floor directly beneath it. "So…. Zwei, how much energy do you have?"

"Woof!"

"I expected that…" Jaune sighed, he looked at Nora. "The tennis formation?"

"The Tennis formation!" Nora hoisted Magnhild, "but… what about…. That stuff?" Nora motioned to the creeping nectar.

"Oh yeah…" Jaune looked at the dog, "Zwei, cover that stuff up, can you?"

The dog panted, turning around so its rear faced the massive plant, and started digging a hole, shoveling the dirt right into the pulsating juices. It didn't cover the whole field, but it created a wide enough path for Jaune and Nora to walk towards the beast without their shoes being damaged…. That would be sole-crushing.

There was also a giant hole that Zwei now resided in, and that Paris slipped inside, laying almost contentedly in the dirt, his eyes still glazed from visible symptoms of shock. Nora turned to Jaune, who also had turned to her, their eyes locked and they nodded, as Nora whistled and Zwei popped up between them. Nora and Jaune looked forward to see the vines corrupt the canopy, dropping down various Grimm onto their considerate path. Nora and Jaune turned back to each other and they gave a second nod. A third nod was also made, just to make sure they were on the same page.

Nora whistled again, and Zwei jumped up, curling into a ball. Nora struck him with Magnhild towards Jaune, who batted it back with his shield. They started running forward towards the army of Grimm, hitting Zwei back and forth between them.

The 'ball' that was Zwei gained momentum, and also gained some form of energy, as Grimm were caught in its oscillating wake, disintegrating before being properly bludgeoned to death. Nora looked forward for a brief moment to see that the flower of death was fast approaching, she gave Jaune a look, and Jaune gave a short wink before he hit Zwei with his shield as hard as he could towards Nora, who then pivoted her stance, aimed Magnhild, and slammed Zwei into the direction of the Aphrodite.

The sound barrier trembled before the mighty pooch of power punched the air itself with its force. It careened towards the unsuspecting mega-Grimm, it collided with one of the petals and…

It pushed it. The Aphrodite's 'head' did jostle a little bit. It seemed rather annoyed.

Other than that…. Really? REALLY? What IS that stupid thing? It's just a plant!

Zwei himself also seemed to notice that his attack barely did anything as it ricocheted off the Aphrodite's horrid floral body. Zwei immediately started hovering in the air and let out a massive bark, sonic waves emitting from his muzzle, colliding with the Aphrodite's bulb.

It shook, and it let out a mumbling screech to showcase displeasure, but…. This was not the Slaggeater. She looked up to see more vines sprouting from the earth, one that was...

"ZWEI LOOK OUT!" Nora was too late in her cry as a vine lashed at the dog, knocking it down with an audible impact into the quivering and torn asunder ruins of the trees. "ZWEI!" Nora cried, stabbing herself with a Taser. She ignored whatever Jaune was saying to her, probably something about being careful, before she leaped upwards, mounted Magnhild, and flew to where Zwei had impacted.

Zwei was curled up in the branches, but otherwise unhurt. His eyes were open, and he continued to pant. "Oum thank Monty!" Nora whispered as she grabbed Zwei into her arms. "Are you okay?"

"Woof!"

"Good…. Now let's get back…." Nora heard slithering and hissing, and not of the anthropomorphic vine variety. It was a very familiar sound, the sound that preceded her infamous sloth call.

A King Taijutu.

 _Easy Peasy! I could kill this thing without Zwei!_ Nora looked up to see the two headed snake attempting to encircle her, but she leaped back and shifted Magnhild to grenades. It was time to blow stuff up!

A third head emerged.

 _Okay…. Are there Three-Headed King Taijutu out there? Maybe Port said something about that…._

A fourth head emerged.

 _…This is going to be like that Deathstalker incident in Emerald Forest isn't it? Where things just keep appearing…_

A fifth and seventh head emerged. Nora fancied that there was a sixth head that was simply late or forgot to show up or slept in.

Unfortunately, the sixth head decided to show up, as the mass of snakes started rising into the air… a face appeared beneath it. Two large red eyes, a fanged mouth, a gross nose… but otherwise a humanlike face.

The snakes kept rising into the air, as it continued to show a more humanoid form. It had arms with spiky nails. It had gangly legs with bony feet. It had… a curvaceous torso.

"Huh… a Grimm with boobs. No nipples, but nevertheless boobs. I've seen everything." Nora couldn't help but note aloud.

The tall, giant woman-like Grimm with snakes for hair snarled at her, her red eyes literally beaming, firing lasers from her oculi right at Nora. Nora cupped Zwei and, using the last of the excess electricity from the Taser, leaped out of the way.

Nora set Zwei down, _they aren't holding back…. Wait…_ Nora looked behind her. "JAUNE!"

* * *

Jaune knew in life or death situations, the instincts of the individual had a tendency to over-ride logic. Zwei was their lifeline. Jaune KNEW he couldn't beat the Aprhodite without him…

But his odds of SURVIVAL were drastically reduced when Nora did not wait for him to rescue Zwei from the brambles. He also didn't appreciate that Nora didn't immediately come back.

He appreciated the least, however, that the Grimm were once again sprouting from the ground, and that the Aphrodite itself seemed to be going on a more overt offensive. The enzyme riddled nectar that it oozed was now being spewed and outright _puked_ everywhere, their once neat path of supernaturally dug dirt now existing principally as spotted footholds. Jaune was jumping between the platforms, thankful that only the fast yet weak Grimm had come to meet him...

 _Nora… come back… I need you._ Jaune blocked a swipe from a Beowulf and stabbed it in the gut. He pivoted and beheaded a lizard thing that wasn't visible a moment ago…. Jaune really started to need learning Grimm names as he blocked a descending tiny monkey thing.

He turned to see that the massive head of the Aphrodite… would he call it a head? What was the head of a flower called? His side tracked mind suddenly returned to the horror of the 'head…' that was… _advancing?_

Vines behind the bulb started to grow, granting the Aphrodite a longer 'stem,' allowing it to twist and pursue. The petals opened up once more, its maw now charging towards the hopeless Jaune. The dripping teeth smashed down on Jaune.

 _GONG!_

Jaune raised his shield against the fangs above him, and refused to be bent and ground in the multi-layered expanse of the Aphrodite's insides. He looked down to see the dirt he still stood on glowed like he was, his aura interacting with it. _What does that… oh…_

 _OHHH!_

Mud track mines were obsolete anyway. Jaune double flipped backwards and jumped onto another foothold as his previous spot exploded beneath the extended petals. The Aphrodite lightly retreated, retracting on it stem away from the in over his head knight.

 _So… I can activate the mines by using my semblance…. I wonder if Nora could too?_ Jaune looked forward to see the Grimm starting to advance on his position. Thankfully, he had a plan.

He jumped across each pile of dirt, and each time he activated his semblance. It ignited the magic dirt like it was gunpowder, and each explosion like it was a full on powder-keg. Grimm splattered across the ruined tree-line like torn apart chewing toys and smoked in humiliated defeat.

Jaune returned to the massive hole that Zwei dug up, to see that Commander Nikos was starting to stand up once more. "Commander, would you like to skip to the part of your lesson that talks about killing an Aphrodite?"

Commander looked up at him, incredulous but cognizant. "You have to uproot the whole thing. Kill it's 'stem,' and 'decapitate' it… after that, the Aphrodite should be an easy kill…. But…. It simply can't be done without an army of huntsmen, with at least a couple of lives lost…."

"…or without a secret weapon." He needed to reunite with Nora and Zwei, without it, they were all destined to die.

"We don't HAVE a secret weapon!" Commander Nikos exclaimed, "we only have our wits and our corporeal weapons like…" his eyes widened, "wait, was Nora with you?"

"Yes, and the dog, you saw it!"

"….I must be dead, or knocked out and hallucinating…"

Jaune sighed, "we'll talk about it later, but we need to find…"

"JAUUUNEEE!" Jaune turned to the cry as Nora was running frantically, with Zwei under her arm. "THE SITUATION JUST GOT-" Nora couldn't finish her sentence until she was rocketed towards Jaune from a blast, colliding with Jaune's body. Nora laid across Jaune's torso, her face right near his as she pushed herself quickly off.

"You…." Commander Nikos muttered, "….no way, this is…. this isn't possible."

What appeared to be an overly large silhouette of a naked lady emerged. Her eyes were hellishly red and her hair was…. a King Taijutu? Multiple King Taijutus?

Commander Nikos stood in front of Jaune and Nora, his shield out in front. "I'll tell you this twice. You will die if you stay, there are now TWO Class M Grimm here, let me serve you and save the longer life you'll have."

"And I'll tell you this twice…" Nora began, "BOUNCING LASERZ!"

Zwei unleashed a barrage that started doing what it did beforehand. Any Grimm that emerged from the rubble suddenly blasted. The tall lady-Grimm thing seemed angered, but like Zwei's attacks on the Aphrodite, it only seemed to fester, not damage.

"…I wasn't hallucinating…." Commander Nikos breathed.

Jaune looked at Zwei, he had an idea. However, he would have to hope that…

The gigantic flowery maw of the Aphrodite lurched through the smoking rubble, spewing the acidic nectar like a broken sprinkler. _Dammit, why does everything have to go…_

The massive lady suddenly tripped over the Aphrodite's extended stem, and the Aphrodite reacted poorly to it, jerking backwards but only succeeding in entangling themselves together. Jaune also looked up to see Commander Nikos's massive shield protecting him and Nora from the nectar. _…did something just go right?_ He turned to Zwei, "COAT THESE BASTARDS IN DIRT!"

Zwei obliged, digging and flinging and making their two guests dusty and filthy.

"Nora, leap over there!" And Jaune winked. "Boop it with some electricity… then get back."

Nora saluted, leaped towards the entangled beasts, and tapped the gigantic dirt piles that consumed them with a shocking finger and leapt back.

"NOW WE ALL RUN!" Jaune screamed as he picked up Zwei and fled the opposite direction. Nora followed as did Commander Nikos. _Huh… I just gave Pyrrha's dad an order._

Jaune just knew that Nora enjoyed the massive explosion that followed.

* * *

As Ren laid down to prepare for rest, a large explosion shook him from his relaxation.

He had a feeling Nora was involved.

* * *

 **A/N: I got busy all of a sudden, so this took longer than I anticipated. Also… action focused chapters always take me more time, it's just not my forte. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Set up a literal 'Dirty Bomb…..' actually, please, don't. Peace is the way to go!**


	22. Corgi Beliefs

**A/N: Considering the type of response I got from the last chapter, y'all are probably wondering… what are my opinions of Arkos? If you don't care at all, then just proceed to the story beneath this, if you are, here's my spiel.**

 **Do I hate Arkos? No. In the show I found it rather cute. Innocent yet sincere… sort of. Most of the things I "called out," and "deconstructed" were probably never meant to be conveyed by the creators. Thing is, if I brought up the points made in Chapter 3 and most recently in the last chapter, but in an Arkos story, it could still function as an Arkos story, hell, it'd probably be strengthened. All those Arkos people out there, I was one of you! I just… thought it'd be funny to make it the Persia in the 300 reference. Also, I know Lancaster can get more mature than fluff… but let's be honest, that ship is the biggest fluff fodder in the world, even if it becomes canon.**

 **So I like Arkos… do I like Pyrrha? Well… Pyrrha… frustrates me. She was fine for her purpose in the first two volumes, but then volume three started to develop her character. I was like, "interesting! We'll get more on Pyrrha than 'she is a great fighter and she has a crush on Jaune.' Let it happen!" Her arc that wasn't Arc was getting steam, and it naturally seemed to lead to tragedy… but I didn't think she'd die. Not because of denial, no, (I predicted Penny was going to die, I wasn't against death) I simply thought the story would be STRONGER if she survived, but still lost.**

 **The JNPR… sorry… JNR arc… in the next volume will naturally being coming to terms with grief over Pyrrha… or bringing Pyrrha back in some strange and probably dark way. (Evil Pyrrha here we come!… I kinda am doing that in my other fic) Thing is, that's fine and all, but you know what would've been more compelling?**

 **Pyrrha surviving her FIRST MAJOR LOSS. We don't know if Pyrrha lost matches in her early years, but we can feasibly imagine she doesn't lose in her later ones. She had character traits that were both good and bad, like a fleshed out character. She clearly was self-confident enough to lead herself to destruction, to believe that SHE was destined to save the world. That is hellishly arrogant, even if she means well. HOWEVER, imagine what'd she be like if SHE failed and needed saving. She almost died, she didn't and now… she feels inadequate.**

 **Still would be a total angst fest, but it'd be an angst fest that develops Jaune as a leader, Pyrrha as a character, it would make Arkos more complex, and doesn't turn some of the few happy songs in the soundtrack ("Shine" and "Dream Come True") into bitter listens. It would be compelling, in my opinion, to make THAT the secondary arc (Team RWBY is still the main Team) than the inevitable Jaune, Ren, and Nora grieving.**

 **That's why Pyrrha frustrates me. Her death frustrates me. It converted a possibly intriguing character into a plot device. "She has to die because her name is "Pyrrha" and is inspired by "Achilles." She needs to die to make Jaune the hero he always dreamed of becoming. She needs to die because it's just SO SAD, Penny wasn't enough!**

 **Even George R. R. Martin shows restraint in killing people. Most of the characters he kills can't develop much past simply having an influence on the plot. My philosophy on narrative…. Plot is a sequence of events. A story is a plot with characters. If you do a disservice to one of your characters, you do a disservice to your audience.**

 **Not saying I'm not guilty of doing a disservice to the characters. I ain't perfect, and since I'm mostly doing this fanfiction thing for fun, these first drafts sometimes ignore these very principles I tout. Weiss vs. Atlas has more death in it, and maybe I killed some characters that could've been better used alive. However, I use the reviews to showcase my negative tendencies I have to be aware of.**

 **So… those are my opinions. Thank you for visiting… If you disagree, let me know, but as I always say, attack my writing, not me. For something less ranty and more fun, check out the Author's Note at the bottom!**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

There was something to be said about aura. Ever since he acquired it, his tennis shoes never wore out. They normally turn into mangled, torn apart messes after a year and a half of standard use! Jaune had been running in the wilds ever since initiation. He had been tripped, forced into a locker and rocketed to many places, and don't forget his training with Pyrrha. Yet his tennis shoes always looked like they were good as new! Yay aura! Saved money on medical bills and clothing replacements.

He continued sprinting on his practically good-as-new shoes as the big boom that made Nora lightly squeal, not out of fear, but of near orgasmic ecstasy. Paris was behind them, his bulky metal armor clacking furiously as the man's strides closed the distance between Nora and himself.

Would that be enough to kill the Aphrodite and… whatever that Gorgon looking mutha-flippa was? Jaune wasn't sure, but it would at least give them time.

"Woof!"

Jaune looked down to see Zwei striding beside him. He smiled. Considering the amount of trouble this dog seemed to attract towards him, it definitely was too adorable to get mad at. Just because his existence roped him into a situation where every time he walked out into wilderness recently… even if it was just twice… generally resulted in some gigantic mess of giant Grimm trying to kill him, didn't mean that Zwei was at fault…

It just meant fate hated Jaune for trying to become a huntsman even though he really shouldn't have.

After traveling a large distance, Jaune finally decided to succumb to his inner fatigue as he slowed down and stopped, huffing and puffing like a fairytale dog… he meant wolf. Fairytale wolf. Jaune wondered if there ever were pigs that were smart enough to build things.

Then again, that was a nursery tale. Different from a fairy tale…. He thought.

"Well… did that get'em?" Jaune turned to see Nora giving him a pleading look. Even Nora could get sick of life or death fights.

"I don't know…" Jaune looked to the senior huntsman of the group. "What do you think Commander Nikos?"

No words were exchanged for a good thirty seconds: only eyeballs that shifted between the two of them, occasionally resting on the dog. He breathed too, but they were meaningless, just intake of air, no words nor opinion. There wasn't even a tone, and his eyes weren't glaring as much as they were simply looking.

"What do I think?" He finally said. "What do I think? I think…. I think….. WHAT THE ACTUAL SWEATY TESTICLES DID I JUST SEE?" His eyes widened further, and the grinding of metal within his gauntlets could be heard. "First, an Aphrodite appeared and did its thing, then that dog spewed lasers, then… I pass out, then a clown-flippin' QUEEN TAIJUTU joins the fray, and then your dog just digs up dirt that just so happened to be EXPLOSIVE?" His hands raised to his temples and he started rubbing. "I…. I…. WHAT? Who the Mistrali anus beads are you? The Beast and two Trainers, or something?"

The wind blew in awkwardly. "…yes." Jaune responded, as he saw Nora wasn't going to answer. She seemed to be struggling from laughing.

"I… I…." Paris started pacing, "what does this mean? Why is this happening? Is this punishment for not buying young Pyrrha a puppy?" _Um…._ Jaune started backing away from the strutting champion as his stomps became vibrantly vocal, despite the cushy earth, "was I just saved by an inexperienced nincompoop and an unruly wack-job?"

"Hey!" Nora called out, "only Ren can call me a wack-job, and only sarcastically!"

"Maybe… maybe I'm the wack-job?" Paris's face transfixed to the dog with a look of horror, "maybe… maybe I've gone mad. All those missions and tournaments finally getting to me… maybe I'm getting old and getting dementia! Oh Oum please make me sane when I walk Pyrrha down the aisle when she inevitably marries this dunce!"

"Hey!" Jaune called out, "only Weiss can call me a dunce, and only… well… okay she normally means it."

"I'm going to have to retire, be reduced to a beer guzzling couch potato who makes bets in sports… Oum I feared this moment would come but not this soon!"

Nora scooched over to Jaune, "should we just let him finish his existential crisis?"

"I don't think we can stop it, Nora. Let's just wait it out."

"Woof!"

"What will Penelope say when I come back and say I need a therapist! She'll ask if Pyrrha did something but I'll say 'no, I'm hallucinating! Becaue a little corgi just created an explosion that delayed two Class M Grimm from pursuing us…"

"Wait…. Delayed?" Nora's tone did not represent someone who was happy.

"Of course! That explosion was massive, but unless there was shrapnel that uprooted the Aphrodite or gouged out the many eyes of the Queen Taijutu it…" Paris was immediately interrupted by a long-nailed hand reaching from the trees. The black skin was smoldering and smoking, but it was nevertheless moving.

Zwei whimpered as the crawling, what Jaune now gathered as, Queen Taijutu came into view, her red eyes glowing. She was about to unleash some eye lasers of her own, with Jaune and Nora diving one way, and Commander Nikos and Zwei diving another way.

Jaune looked down the long length of the Grimm, her legs were apparently blown away. _Excellent!_ "Commander, you said we need to gouge her eyes out?

"ALL OF THEM!" Commander Nikos cried, "EVEN THE ONES IN HER HAIR!"

"Okay…. Nora, your weapon can't… gouge, per say." Nora shook her head as she brought out the hammer and motioned to her handle.

"I can use this as an ocular crowbar!" Her teeth practically sparkled she looked so excited.

"…gross."

"Fighting Grimm is ALWAYS gross! That's why it's AWESOME!"

"Zwei, distract it while we… uhg…. Do that." Jaune turned to the dog.

"Woof!"

"That's what I like to hear! Commander, are you in?"

"Never Give Up! Never Surrender! Never Flee!"

"Didn't you flee with us?…"

"THAT WAS A TACTICAL RETREAT!"

Jaune sighed, "all right, let's go! Nora, go for the hair, I'll take out the big ones."

"You got it! Here snakey snakey snakey!" Nora leaped into the large mass of snakes.

Jaune ran over to the face, dodging under a swinging hand. Zwei was darting, tackling and shooting, harassing the Queen Taijutu as Jaune walked up to its face. The eye let out a giant laser at Zwei, which the dog thankfully dodged, but it made Jaune wait back, waiting for approaching the eyeball a little less…. Horrifying.

A hand was put on his shoulder. "I'll take the big eyes, I have the biggest sword, you help your team-mate with the hair."

"Are you sure?"

Commander Nikos's forest green eyes glared with a furrowed annoyance. "Um…" Jaune backed off, "am I like… never supposed to doubt you or something? Uh…"

The commander sighed, "I know you're technically the leader, but do what I say. Please?"

Jaune looked at the mess of Snakes that loomed over them. "I would, but I can't jump that high..."

Before he even muttered an annoyed sigh as the Commander was wont to do, he grabbed the hood of Jaune's hoodie, lifted him above his head, and flung him at the snakes. Jaune could see the hint of a smile from the man.

"…he probably enjoyed that," Jaune mumbled as he felt himself rocketing towards the entanglement of wrathful blackness. He found his footing to be spotty, but it couldn't be that bad, he did just recently ride and jump through a swarm of Nevermores.

He turned around to see a slick head staring at him. He withdrew his blade, aiming to make it stop staring. He leaped forward, landing on the… nose? Snout? What do snakes have? And started aiming for the eyes.

When his blade dug into the socket, the snake hissed aggressively, thrashing around in every direction. Jaune held onto his sword with desperate strength. He continued digging in, twisting, and eventually….

Using leverage, he got rid of the pesky eyeball. "Yes!" He cried, lifting one arm up in celebration, only to realize, as he turned his head, the other eye the snake had was staring at him. "Shit…."

Suddenly, a powerful stomp crushed the agitated eye. Jaune looked up to see, air blowing in the wind, legs standing proud, chest slightly jiggling…. HE MEANT CHEST PUFFED OUT INTIMIDATINGLY…. Was Nora, her turquoise eyes steeled with determination. She rammed the mallet into the socket, and released a grenade from the hammer, removing the eyeball with ease.

If it weren't for the whole… eye gouging out thing… Jaune could fully justify the blush he felt right now.

Nora looked down and saw Jaune, a smile suddenly adorning her features, "Jauney! Nice of you to join me! I have like… if my counting is right…" Nora lifted her hand as she observed her fingers. The head they stood on (well… Nora was standing on it, Jaune was simply holding on) started falling down pathetically. "At least a minijillion left."

"A minijillion?"

"It's like two or three more heads."

"Then why didn't you say two or three more heads?"

"BECAUSE 'minijillion' is a word I made up, and when I make up words, I use them! Deal with it!" Nora smiled as she offered a hand to Jaune, which he happily took. After being hoisted up by Nora's absurd strength, the 'ground' beneath them shook.

They heard an agonized scream of eldritch proportions. "The commander must've gouged out one of the big eyes…" Jaune grunted as he grabbed onto Nora, helping himself and her with balance.

Zwei continued attacking the Grimm, focusing on her arms, making sure she didn't have the ability to swat Commander Nikos or scratch Nora and he out of her snake hair. Lasers occasionally flitted into Jaune's peripheral vision, and the impact of Zwei's tackles occasionally jostled the floor beneath him.

A cackling started reaching his ears, however. A cackling, sneering, and… gargling. _Oh Oum… and things were going so well._ Jaune could see a vine looming over the sky.

The Aphrodite had joined the fray.

"Oum come on!" Jaune cried as the vine started bearing fruit of Grimm into the hair. "Nora! You think you can handle this snake thing by yourself?"

"You dang right I can!"

"Then… I'm going to take out that plant."

"WHAT?" Nora's eyes widened and ran up to Jaune, "are you CRAZY? You saw what we did with that thing, I think not getting hurt is its thing."

"I have a plan, keep doing your thing. The sooner we remove this thing, the easier the Aprhodite will be to deal with."

"….yes sir." Nora bitterly sighed as she jumped upwards, returning to the snakes, though now by blasting any Grimm incompetent enough to think her an easy target.

Jaune started running along various snake 'strands of hair.' He had to get to the stem. He did not have a plan: he did just lie to Nora.

But he did have a hunch, and considering the circumstances, a hunch was about as good as he could get.

"Zwei!" Jaune turned to the corgi, who stopped its assault to float and stare at Jaune, panting and drooping that adorable tongue of his.

He raised his sword high like he was some kind of hero that he wasn't. _I hope this actually does something… this isn't a scroll though… well, too late to back out now!_ "CHARGE MY SWORD!"

Zwei's eyes shot out a beam of concentrated light, colliding with the shining metal of Crocea Mors. The sheen became more pronounced, and the blade seemed to have grown larger as the light started crawling towards the heavens. It produced an impressive level of heat, and Jaune had a hard time starting to look at his own weapon, but he didn't need to. All he looked at was the massive bulb of the Aphrodite…. And the stem it elongated to travel to this point.

He ran up a snake head, leaped, used his semblance so every time a vine tried to whip him away, they just bounced off, simply knocking some strength off his aura. He raised his sword, aimed his strike across the stem, and let loose.

The sword tore through the Grimm's flesh like his feet tear through a dance floor. The sword's glowing became more chaotic, sparking and fizzing against the fiber of the Grimm plant's stem. Jaune became deaf to all sounds other than his own thoughts and the screaming of the sword.

He landed on the ground… flat on his stomach. The impact winded him, forcing him into a disgusted groan. After air started returning to him, Jaune pushed up and turned around to see the entirety of the Aphrodite's stem cut through.

"Huh…. My hunch worked…." Jaune said relieved. He then started laughing, "what has my life become?" He was answered when the head of the Aphrodite flopped in front of him, teeth bared, and clearly not happy. "REALLY?"

It started jumping around like a piranha out of water, spewing its toxic nectar around like a drooling baby. Thing was it was a GIANT flopping piranha drooling baby. Jaune felt a scream escape as he ran away from the wrathful disembodied plant-head.

He tripped over a branch and summersaulted into a recumbent position, front facing his pursuer. He crab-walked backwards, counting how many seconds he possibly had to live.

Only for the thing to stop, scream, and then grow limp. He looked behind the head to see Paris Nikos, stabbing it in the 'back.'

"The flesh between the stem and head is the weak point, remove the head from the stem, you got yourself an easy kill." Commander Nikos said like a teacher giving a mundane lesson.

"What the- how the-" Jaune looked behind him and in front of him. "Where's the Queen?"

"I stabbed the flesh behind its eye, reaching its brain, it took a while to remove that one, but thankfully it lost its legs to make getting to the head easier, and was distracted by your dog friend. I have to admit, Zwei is an impressive ally."

"Wait…. We DIDN'T have to gouge out the eyes of the snakes in her hair?"

"Nope… I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't get in the way. Also, all things considered, it was safer in her hair than in front of her face."

Jaune felt like he should be mad. That he should scream at this arrogant man who was Pyrrha's father, the one who put his daughter on a pedestal in the first place, however… he couldn't.

He just laughed. He laughed and laughed as he felt his own life return to him. He was alive. Pyrrha's father was alive. Zwei walked up to Jaune and started licking him. Zwei was alive. Nora….

"OUM MY MONTY I SAW WHAT YOU DID! THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Jaune looked up, but not in enough time for Nora to tackle him in her most aggressive hug yet. Nora's chest was practically boring into his, and her arms wrapped tighter than anything in the Queen's hair ever could.

Zwei barked, and even Commander Nikos chuckled. Suddenly, his chuckling stopped as he walked to Nora, who was still kneeled with Jaune on the jungle floor. "Nora, stand."

Nora stopped hugging, and still with a moment of looking at Jaune's eyes with a hint of confusion and a little worry, she stood up and faced the commanding man.

"I'm…. I'm sorry. You brought a clearly resilient and indispensable asset to this mission. While we will have to go back and call this place unsuitable for colonization at this time, and while I'm still not sure what's going on, I… must apologize. Will you accept-" Commander Nikos was stopped by his air leaving his body as Nora's hug somehow constricted past his heavy armor.

"Of COURSE I accept your apology! Oh! Wait though!" Nora released, as the Commander let out a gust of air and heaved in another. "You have to keep it a secret though. Glynda's orders! That's why I didn't tell you or show you when you discovered him."

"… fair enough… though… care to explain to me EXACTLY what Zwei's…. gimmick… is?"

* * *

There was a gigantic explosion. That could only mean two things. There was a volcano she failed to see, or someone set off a bomb.

Where someone could get a bomb of such magnitude Lumen did not know, but she did know that Grimm don't set off bombs. So it had to be human intervention.

Which could involve his boy… thought to be honest, it was more than likely avoiding that Nora girl.

Ren seemed the most determined… then again he was clearly the fastest, wearing the lightest gear and having a ninja-like physique, not strong but durable, excellent for running.

Pyrrha was not too far behind Ren, her own stride buckling and leaping to go as fast as she possibly could. Lumen could even see the metallic boots she had start being coated with a black energy. She was trying to force herself to go faster. How cute. Almost made her feel guilty for chewing the champion out recently. Almost. She always loved calling people out.

She ran the slowest of the three… because…. She HAD been out of the game for a while.

"Are you SURE Nora is involved?" Pyrrha asked, "it could just be a volcano or geyser we haven't seen."

"If you explode it, Nora will come." Ren replied, as if he just stated some fundamental law of the universe. Seemed legit.

"Woof!" Lumen's ears perked up when a familiar dopey bark came to her. What was that dog's name again? Drei?

"So, those are some tips for future reference. Though Oum help if you run into a Memorial." That was Paris's voice.

"….what's so bad about a Memorial? All those other Class M Grimm sound horrible! Though they do seem to have video game weak-spot…" That was Jaune! Thank Oum….

"Those aren't 'video game weak-spots,' they're simply places where vital organs of the Grimm congregate. There's one for every Grimm. Stabbing an Boarbatusk in the belly is more effective than stabbing it in the head, for example."

"So… what were you about to say about the Memorial?" That was Nora's voice. Oh thank Oum nobody died!

"Well, it looks harmless but it can resurrect…" Paris stopped when he became visible to Pyrrha, Ren, and herself. Jaune and Nora followed closely behind, followed by Zwei. _Huh, didn't even notice the dog was missing… that's why I never owned a pet._ Lumen felt her body suddenly rush forward, motherly instinct over-riding cautious thought. She even pushed Pyrrha out of the way.

She grabbed her son with as much force as she could and brought him closer into a ferocious hug. Tears almost forming in her eyes.

"Oh thank Oum you're okay!" She closed her eyes and buried her head into the shoulder of her son, who was taller than her, even if barely. "I was so worried! I was… I was…" She removed her head and looked in her son's eyes, which were widened in surprise, "I know you can't make the promise of 'don't worry me like that again,' but please don't get abducted by a Nevermore so easily next time!"

"Trust me, I won't. It's a miracle I didn't get air-sick."

"Yeah… you DIDN'T get air sick…" Lumen turned to Nora, who had Ren affectionately patting her shoulder. "How did that happen?"

"Huh…." Jaune scratched his chin, "maybe it's just bullheads…."

Lumen looked to the side and saw Pyrrha waiting patiently: Whether her love was healthy or not, it would be rude not to let her have a go… as long as that 'go' was within proper boundaries. Lumen let go of Jaune and moved to the side, nodding towards Pyrrha.

"Jaune, I…" Pyrrha was silenced as Jaune hugged first. _…Noah may not have trained him THAT well with the ladies… but he seemed to have learned a thing or two from experience… he DOES have his two female team-mates crushing on him._ "…I… uh…"

"I'm glad to see you Pyrrha." Jaune said, still hugging her. Lumen looked at Paris, who seemed to find it… humorous? Was that a smile he was giving? What the hell happened?

She walked over to the well-regarded-but-still-an-asshole and looked at him. "What happened out there?"

"They just showed me their skill in survival situations." Paris shrugged, "if my daughter is infatuated with him, I see nothing wrong with it." Lumen widened her eyes. Did… did Paris just compliment her son?

"….what did he do?"

"He did fine huntsman work, that's what he did." Paris simply said, nodding. Lumen raised an eyebrow. She wanted to drag more info from him, release her evil eye as she was wont to do, and make him talk. She turned back towards his son.

He had finished her hug with Pyrrha, and was now talking with her. She was nodding, and laughing along. Ren and Nora seemed to have joined in.

"That being said… this place is not suited for colonization." Paris's voice returned her gaze into his. It was odd: he seemed less like a prick now. "We should probably hail that bullhead. I'll make the report, you can just return to your town and continue with your normal life."

"I'm having dinner with a friend when I get back, I can help you anyway." How long had she and Umber seen each other in person? Too long. She was looking forward to it. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"Considering your son… I'm not surprised." He chuckled. Paris just CHUCKLED! A HUMAN action! "Just don't make a scene, okay? Some people in the Vale council like their reports like the most rigorous of Atlesians."

"I know Atlesians… I am one… well, I consider myself Mantlese." Lumen shrugged. "I'm used to assholes with sticks up their asses… including you."

Paris stopped laughing, "I do demand respect, though."

"Assholes with sticks up said assholes: you are one." Lumen clarified.

Paris sighed, "you're a mother…. Penelope had more tact."

"I should meet her sometime, I'd LOVE to see the type of person who'd marry you…"

Paris returned her grin, "well… it wouldn't hurt. Considering our children are partners, maybe we should work towards getting along." He extended his hand. Lumen took it.

"Still doesn't mean I won't call you out."

"I can't change your personality, just… don't glare at me with your 'evil eye' again, okay?"

"No promises, but I'll try."

* * *

The bullhead ride was long, as it was last time, but it was filled with much more happiness and less awkwardness. No matter how used Nora was to 'awkwardness,' casual happiness was always preferred.

Lumen and Paris conversed non-aggressively, and her team could just talk amongst themselves. It was fun, it was great, it was…

"Hey, uh… Jaune. Can I just say something, and… I feel the team should be here to hear this." Pyrrha's remark made Nora curious. Normally whenever Pyrrha said anything sincere to Jaune, she preferred being in private, but now she was…

"I… uh… I'm your leader and partner, Pyrrha, whatever you want to say to me, you should say to me…" Jaune responded, a smile adorning his face, though from his eyes Nora could see the slight anxiety.

"I…. can things return to normal? Can we return to training on the roof? Can we have our private talks again? Can we…. Be like partners? I… I'm not asking for anything else, I just…. You're important to me Jaune, and… and I don't want anything interfering with that."

Nora saw a slight blush on Jaune's side. "I… I would want nothing more." Nora found herself smiling.

"Good, because I…. well…. I…. just want to be your partner. Anything else can come later."

Nora was admittedly surprised. She turned towards Lumen. She MUST have had a hand in this sudden revelation that was only as awkward as it had to be. She highly doubted it wasn't brought up in their downtime.

Lumen saw Nora's look, and returned it. She leaned in, "you should be thanking me." She whispered.

"Why?" Nora whispered back.

"Equilibrium back in your team… but maybe with a chance to win him yourself… your crush on my son seems more genuine…"

Nora was taken aback. "My crush on Jaune is frivolous! It's just…. It just exists. A hormonal reaction!"

"You're eighteen, all crushes are hormonal, yours is just a little more founded in who Jaune is." Lumen winked, "instincts can lead you astray, but feelings can lead you to bliss." She turned away and returned to conversing with Paris, talking about contact info or something. Nora returned to her team, who were just talking about nothing whatsoever.

Just as Nora liked it.

The bullhead, after a couple of hours, returned to Beacon , and Team JNPR left it with a newly filled portion of happiness. They had completed yet another mission, but this mission was deeper in the wild, thus more dangerous. Thus more important!

Lumen and Paris casually bid farewell as they left for whatever they were going to do. Nora skipped alongside her team as they walked casually. It didn't matter is she looked stupid to others, she knew that whoever thought her stupid would clearly suffer a horrible injury.

Zwei scampered alongside her, panting with what Nora assumed was happiness. He did aid in killing more Grimm…. Very powerful Grimm…. The dog should be even more satisfied than her. Even when she learned that her actions were worthless, gouging the eyes out of snakes was oddly cathartic. Besides, she killed the Slaggeater, she had enough self-confidence in slaying Grimm alongside Zwei that she didn't need a further booster against the other massive Grimm.

They walked to their dorm to be greeted by Weiss and Ruby, who were standing there. Both of their arms were crossed, and both tapped their feet.

"… can we talk to Jaune… and Nora, very quick?" Weiss adjusted her arms to rest akimbo. Ruby silently nodded.

"Uh… sure…" Pyrrha looked at her partner, and then looked at Nora. "Don't take too long… c'mon Ren." Pyrrha dragged Ren into the dorm with him. If Nora didn't know any better, she would assume they were about to 'boop.' The four stood in the hallway with little noise exchanged.

"So… uh…" Ruby began, Jaune and Nora herself remaining silent. "We… uh… our mission was in Mulan…" Nora felt her stomach drop into her intestines. _Really? What are the odds they go there for their mission?_ "… we heard… uh… we heard interesting stories."

Jaune audibly gulped, "so… where's Yang."

Weiss responed, "she's in the medical ward."

"OUM MY MONTY!" Nora exclaimed, "is she hurt?"

"No," Ruby answered, much to her and Jaune's relief, "she's just there visiting Blake."

"Good…. Wait, Blake?" Jaune's eyes relaxed then widened.

"She's fine as well, she just wanted to say hi to the head medical practitioner here, she has a good rapport with her."

Jaune looked at Nora, "did… did you know that? Because I never heard she had a friendship with the chief medic until now."

Nora nodded an adamant 'no.' "This is my first time hearing it…"

"It never came up!" Weiss justified, readjusting her stance, "but that's not important, what's more important is what we learned…"

"Woof!" _Zwei… why must you betray us?_

"Zwei!" Ruby called out, kneeling down greeting the dog with her grand smile. The dog pranced up to her and started licking her face. "It's great to…. wait a minute!" Ruby stood up, "what was Zwei doing with you guys?"

"Oh! Simple! He… he…." Nora tried thinking of an excuse, she being a better liar than Jaune was, "….he…. smelt the excess pancakes I had on me, so…"

"Zwei was with you in Mulan, where you fought a serious Class M Grimm," Weiss pointed aggressively at Nora. "And now Zwei is with you still… that isn't a coincidence."

"So…. Before I go tell Yang… what's going on?" Ruby gave as serious a look as her cute face was able to give. It was still adorable. However, Weiss's was not adorable. It was as opposite of adorable as you could get. It was…'abhorable. '

"I… uh… well…" Nora could not for the life of her come up with a believable lie. She looked into every possibility. She wondered upon all common uses for a dog. She was almost tempted to simply run away, throwing pocket sand at Weiss and Ruby and fleeing with about as much dignity as a cowardly faunus in Atlas.

"Simple. Zwei followed us because someone forgot to lock the door." Nora looked at Jaune, whose face refused to reveal beads of sweat or signs of falsehood. Maybe he was a better liar then she thought. _Duh… he got fake transcripts, and he's related to that illusion conjuring psychopath._ "We found him on the bullhead when it was too far to turn around."

"Still doesn't explain the comet, or the fact that a Slaggeater just happened to appear when you arrived." Weiss stepped closer to them. This wasn't going to be easy.

"It was a coincidence. We were lucky Goodwitch was there to protect us…. To be fair, Zwei may have followed us BECAUSE he was with us on such an intense mission. Probably sought us out because he associates us with safety."

"That… makes a little bit of sense…" Weiss backed down slightly, but not enough for Nora to believe they were in the clear. It was obvious that Weiss was going to be the primary actor in this interrogation, Ruby being too nice to properly grill them. "Still… the comet?"

"Port's semblance."

"…Port's semblance is increased Lung Capacity."

"Oobleck's semblance."

"….Oobleck's semblance is the ability to convert caffeine to physical energy."

"…. Okay we trusted a random stranger. Happy now?"

"Why would a random stranger with some random yet situationally useful semblance be near Beacon?"

"….because I picked up a lucky penny."

"…Ooh! I know a girl named Penny!" Ruby interrupted the interrogation between Weiss and Jaune to wave her hand around and hop up and down happily. She suddenly stopped, blushing slightly, and returned behind Weiss.

"….I don't believe you."

"Well, what DO you think happened other than what I just told you?"

"I… uh…." Weiss seemed mildly flustered, "I have no idea, the facts are suspicious but don't lead to anything conclusive!" She then walked towards Jaune, pointed that aggressive finger at his chin, "Ruby and I are watching you…."

"….okay." Jaune's face remained neutral. Nora was really impressed.

Weiss huffed, "c'mon Ruby, we aren't getting anything from them… Ruby?"

Ruby walked up to Jaune, her eyes expanding and practically shimmering like real silver. "If there was something important going on, you'd tell me… right Jaune?"

Jaune's face suddenly looked strained, as if his will was starting to falter. Nora would know SHE would start to falter, that look was so pathetically cute! How could ANYONE lie to that?

"If…. If there was something I COULD tell you, Ruby, I would tell you right away." Was that a lie? Nora wasn't sure.

There was a small pause in speaking, until Ruby backed off. "Okay," was all she said, as she grabbed Weiss and dragged her away. Weiss seemed to just take it, crossing her arms and just letting it happen.

Jaune suddenly let out a quivering sigh. "Oh thank Oum I thought I was going to explode." Jaune he rubbed his brow and chuckled lightly, "good job not freaking out too much Nora."

Nora chuckled along, though she wasn't sure why Jaune was laughing. "Well… I mean, I just let you take the lead."

"Well, still, I appreciate you not digging us into a hole."

"You thought that's all I do?"

"NO!" Jaune stuttered in his stance, waving his hands as if to calm her down, "No… it's just…. I'm… surprised you trusted me enough to divert them on my own."

Nora shrugged, "I get it…. I know I'm not perfect, I do have a tendency to dig myself into a hole… but then again so do you… why I trusted you I don't understand." She did understand…. Even if she regretted it slightly. _He's my leader, that's why… it isn't because you make me blush whenever I think too much about us._

"Still…. When are we going to tell them? We can't keep it secret forever." Jaune looked at Nora, his blue eyes. Nora could stare at those blue eyes for a long time.

"We'll… we'll tell them when it's important for them to understand." That sounded responsible, like something Jaune would respect. Not that she didn't agree, she just liked wording it in a way Jaune would like it. _Am I going to start acting like Pyrrha… Oum help me._

"…when is that? Because I don't know…."

Nora took this opportunity to grab Jaune's hand, and to deepen the eye contact. "We'll figure out together." Nora found her cheeks reddening. So were Jaune's… _did he… was he starting to?... No, can't get hopes up._

"Woof!"

Nora looked down at Zwei, "you didn't join your owner?"

"Yeah… you should probably do that." Jaune concurred. Zwei seemed to nod and galloped towards the leaving Weiss and Ruby. "Well, let's get some well-deserved R&R!"

"Yes! Let's!" Nora walked into the JNPR room, where Ren was already taking a nap, and Pyrrha was texting on her scroll. She was smiling, humming, and laying contentedly on her bed. Jaune himself slouched into his desk and booted up his gaming laptop. Nora just smiled.

Whatever comes their way, her team, her leader, and she would be ready for it.

* * *

Salem hated how her servants weren't the most intelligent beings in the world.

She was, of course, talking about Cinder.

"So… the exchange program for the Vytal Festival is starting… what should we do about the insolent people who harbor the power of the beast? How do you want me to make them scream? How should I…"

"Wait, Cinder, just wait. I…." Salem was annoyed. Her plan to kill them in the jungle failed. Those two were more durable than she thought. "We will attack in conjunction. When you act with your servants, you fail, and when I send my Grimm, they fail. You will attack harmoniously as one, you just need to let the Grimm into the city."

"Of course, my master, I will do all in my power to…." Salem hung up.

* * *

"You want me to do WHAT?" Dr. Glass had been told to do ridiculous things before by Ironwood. Experiment on Blood Steel, experiment on live Grimm specimens, experiment on his own aura… the latter resulting in many domestic issues for him. He had enough angst to make him feel like a teenager again.

But… this? "You want me to go with the Atlesian students to the Vytal festival, for the chance to experiment…. On a dog?"

General James Ironwood nodded. "I was originally going to go along with our military forces, but considering the change in circumstances, I thought it'd be best to send you over there. You have more experience with our…. Special contender, and your research on preternatural phenomena is second to none!"

"You want me to experiment on a dog? You understand I would be breaking a couple… unspoken moral codes in the scientific community by experimenting on someone's pet, right?"

"It's more than someone's pet, Pluto!" Ironwood pointed dramatically to the ceiling. "It's the Beast from yore! More powerful than an individual maiden! If we could harness what gives it its strength than we could…."

"Oh no… I've read that story! We've TRIED mixing Grimm essence with aura before!" The doctor gestured to himself, "let me tell you; didn't go well!"

"That's why we must experiment. I thought you'd be eager to study such an interesting specimen…"

Dr. Glass groaned, "fine…. But don't expect any big results, I'm not going to go THAT thorough… it is someone's pet, right?"

General Ironwood sighed, "whatever keeps you happy Pluto. So, next thing on the agenda. How did… the transfer go?"

Dr. Glass laughed, "well…. good ole Glister Polendina is confused as hell. When I told him that I would be administering an 'aura upgrade' to her, he didn't expect what… happened."

"…what did happen?"

"Well…" Suddenly, the massive doors that closed off General Ironwood's office from the rest of the building blew open with massive gusts of wind. A dignified strut of the one who dared interrupt clacked along the percussive floor. She still looked like a little girl. Her hair was orange. Her bow was pink. She dressed like a stereotypical school girl. But….

"I am NOT PENNY any longer!" The robot cried. Her swords came out of her backpack, oriented to resemble wings. "I AM PHEONIX! PHEONIX POLENDINA!" The swords were set aflame in a roaring blast, akin to what one would see in a heavy metal concert. Her eyes started to glow… and here artificial skin showed signs of charring slightly. Glister could fix that.

Ironwood looked with his jaw on the floor. "Her swords are on fire…."

"Her swords are indeed on fire."

"AND I'M COMBAT READY!"

* * *

 **A/N: All righty. Next time on Zwei-Handlers: The exchange students from the other schools, and Maiden Penny. Get excited! Also… due to popular demand, ANOTHER SONG! It will be another Disney song parody, but it won't be from Mulan.**

 **And here's where it gets fun. First person to correctly guess WHO sings the song next chapter (hint: no one from Team JNPR, and it's not an OC) will get to give me an Omake prompt that I WILL do! It could be a ship you want to see, a premise you'd want to briefly witness in action, or an AU where everyone but Jaune is a flamingo. IT CAN BE ANYTHING! Just PM me or leave your guess in your review, first person with the correct answer will be notified when the next chapter comes up!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! THIS GIRL IS ON FIRE!**


	23. Another Dog-Gone Time Skip!

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

The Valian harbor was bustling. Ships were coming in and out, loud horns blared and steam rose in columns as ships continued the final steps of their journey, docking into the many ports. Despite this, the sun still shone as brilliantly as it could, and the water still maintained a stubborn azure despite the massive industrial craft crowding it. The miracles of dust fuel.

"So…. Why are we here in Vale? Shouldn't we be… I dunno…. Training? Studying? Anything else?" Cardin hated when people questioned his brilliant decisions, but he had come to get used to it. He turned to the squinty eyed blonde named after a fancier pigeon.

"Dove, the reason we are here is clear." He gestured to the two teams that also had left Beacon, "we are here to…. do whatever they're doing."

"….why? Why are we following Team RWBY and JNPR for no stated reason?"

"Because!" Cardin smiled, "they are the most successful teams of our year at the moment, so naturally, it seems prudent to… do what they do."

"But what ARE they doing in Vale?"

"Clearly something important." Cardin crossed his arms and nodded importantly. "I must admit that, even as Jaune being the weakling that he is, he clearly has risen to levels surpassing what was expected, and let's not talk about the other seven."

"They could just be hanging out."

"Amazing people don't just 'hang out,' they strategize, every waking moment is a learning experience for them."

"I think they're just hanging out."

"Dove… shut up."

"He does have a point," Russel brought attention from the leader, "I mean… they seem to just be walking and…. talking…."

"But WHY are they walking and talking? What are the contents of their speech?" Cardin KNEW that these teams went to Vale for a reason. There had to be, something so important that BOTH departed, walking side by side like a polyamorous harem that centered around Jaune. Not that that was happening…. Or was it? Was Jaune… no… it couldn't… not when he had YET to have a girl even acknowledge his biceps, let alone his existence.

"Sky, you get along with Yang, right? Try to figure some things out!"

"Oh… I mean…. We don't really…. Uh…." Sky blushed as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yang accidentally kissed him then teased at him afterwards, probably just to reflect the awkwardness back to him." Russel groaned, "I wouldn't exactly call that 'getting along.'"

"Yeah… they haven't really interacted since…"

"Then what are you doing?" Cardin tried to give the most encouraging words he could to the weirdo on his team, "you have a conversation starter! Just go for it, that's what I always do!" He smiled at the still blushing Sky who had to say anything other than grumbles and exclamatory symbols.

"And… that never works." Dove remarked, making Cardin feel frustrated. He glared at the squinty blonde.

"Do I question your inability to get laid, Dove?"

"….No. Because I never bring it up."

Cardin grit his teeth as Russel laughed behind his back. As Cardin was focused on the one insulting him and the one laughing at those insults, he was unable to notice the timid Sky Lark from approaching Yang.

It was when a guitar was strummed out of nowhere that the three suddenly felt their faces suddenly jerk to their team-mate, who, in his spare time, wrote a dentistry jingle. Who practiced the guitar. Who loved his shiny teeth… what the actual hell was he about to do-

"Hey, um…. Hey Yang so… I…." Sky sheepishly ran his fingers across the guitar, letting out an incredibly old fashioned rock tune. He then started dancing like a total… dork.

 _We're no Strangers to Love!_

 _You know the rules, and so do I!_

 _A true commitment's what I'm, thinking of_

 _You couldn't get this from_

 _Any_

 _Other_

 _G-GAAAAHHH!_

Sky was punched off to the side, collided with the railing, and fell into the water. Cardin looked to see Yang's eyes redder than the color red…. That was possible, right?

"DON'T… YOU DARE…. LARK-ROLL ME SKY!" Yang screamed, "THAT JOKE DIED AND SHOULD REMAIN DEAD!"

"Uh…. should we check to make sure he's okay?" Jaune's weak voice seemed to uneasily mention.

"He'll be fine…. He knows how to swim, right?" Yang asked, looking behind her to face Team CRDL… well… team CRD.

"I… think so?" Dove gave uncertainly.

"He should… right Cardin?" Russel gave a look that finally seemed to represent some form of respect.

Cardin sighed as he ran to the railing and dived out for his hopeless team-mate… only to realize he couldn't feasibly swim in his heavy armor.

* * *

"Well, that was a weird start to a day." Jaune said as a wet Nora continued to shake her hair aggressively, water flying around like a stuttering sprinkler.

"Yeah…" Nora groaned, "also, today I learned, electrically charged muscles… and water, don't mix…"

"Wouldn't your skin insulate you?" Pyrrha turned to her team-mate with a raised eyebrow.

"My skin is conductive… that's how I ABSORB the stuff…. Ow." Nora shook her head once more and continued mildly limping. "Stupid boys needing my stupid strength to lift them out of the water."

"They were at least appreciative." Ren remarked.

"I just wonder why Yang was so upset…" Jaune put his hand on his chin, lost in thought, "considering her love of puns…."

"You know I'm here, right?" Yang's voice made Jaune jump. "And I like puns. I hate, and I mean HATE memes."

"That… is kinda my thing…." Ruby shrugged, "I just avoid it because Yang gets… angry."

"They take NO effort! It's just in-jokes that can be repeated for a contrived set up! Puns… puns take creativity!"

"Not yours." Weiss objected. "Your puns are so forced and so unfunny that you should close that whole shtick, rather than leaving it o-PUN." Weiss raised a hand which Ruby quickly hi-fived.

"That… wasn't much better." Blake sullenly added.

"But it WAS better." Weiss clarified.

"I don't think so, making a pun with the word 'pun' is just…." Pyrrha joined in, crossing her arms, "…just the worst. It's like, laughing at a loud gastral noise, but you instead are making that loud gastral noise…"

"….you can just say 'fart' Pyrrha," Nora deadpanned, "you're among casual friends, not your father or the press."

"Give her a break," Yang interjected, "it takes ef-fart for her to…."

"OUM MY MONTY YANG!"

Jaune internally groaned as verbal kerfuffle exploded around him, debating when a pun is appropriate, good, or even better than the usage of internet memes. He should've expected this. Team RWBY had deigned it important to go to Vale to greet the arriving exchange students, who were arriving in the Vale docks due to what Jaune assumed was the cost of long distance bullhead transport.

Vacuosi and Mistrali's arrived via the channels and rivers, while the Atlesians, being the rich and technologically crazy people they are, went in via the bullheads. And he could call Atlesians crazy because his mother was one, despite her insistence on being referred to as Mantlese.

He looked across his team. He still couldn't believe he could call it HIS team, not by simply being a part of it, but being the leader of it… It never ceased to amaze him that he, a fraud, commanded a world-renowned champion, the stealthiest of assassins, and the dripping wet, sparkling in the sun….. vicious brute that was Nora Valkyrie.

But hey, it's what happened, and while he still failed to believe it, he continued to believe in THEM. It was the least a leader could do.

Thing was, the team was encouraged to join by insistence of Ruby and Weiss, and every once in a while, Ruby would give an over-exaggerated 'stealthy look' his way. Every time he caught eyes of it, she blinked quickly and returned her gaze to Weiss.

 _"Ruby and I are watching you…"_

Apparently that meant literally dragging them, and the rest of team, to satisfy Weiss's little 'gage the opponents' errand.

It was becoming mildly difficult to get training in with the dog, as there HAD been rumors floating around of Nora and his own treks out in the night. It's not like they were completely unnoticed by a random night owl who either sleep walked or lost his or her scroll. Due to this, Weiss and Ruby have been on the lookout for one of their…. Outings. It only took an extra smut book for Blake to convince her to coax them out of late night spying. How Blake did it, Jaune did not know.

Pyrrha seemed…. Well, she didn't seem HAPPY about those rumors about him and nora. They have resumed training sessions, and they have… talked. It was settled, whatever "they" were. Friends first, partners second… and whatever could be third could move up if they BOTH felt like it.

"So Jaune, I know some of the people who went to Haven. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but I wouldn't be surprised for an attempt from them to gang up on me, or… what's that word you use?"

"Gank." Jaune responded. Pyrrha's 'fawning' had stopped. She seemed more eager to converse than gush.

"Ah yes, gank. And when you win?"

"Gank spank."

Pyrrha chuckled, "that's such a stupid word."

"Yeah, but it's satisfying to say."

"You're darn right it's fun to say!" Nora burst in, fists clenched with renewed vigor despite being in minor pain. "Give 'em all to me, I would LOVE to 'Gank Spank' them Nora style!"

"If they ever congregate in an easy, bunched up position, I'll be sure to allow you to swing the hammer." Jaune smiled at Nora, who beamed back. "I mean, Pyrrha can't be the only one to enjoy the thrill of a gank spank."

"It was just team CRDL," Pyrrha shrugged. "Nora can lift two of them at the same time while swimming upwards in water."

"I honestly think she can lift everyone here…" Jaune motioned to the whole group of RWBY and JNPR, who, other than Nora, Pyrrha, and himself, were preoccupied by who was the least funny, Ren being the taken hostage arbiter.

"Nora… should we help Ren?" Pyrrha granted a concerned look to the obviously overwhelmed Ren trying to listen to the four jabbering girls.

"He's been through worse!" Nora gave off a raspberry, "the fatigue just shows he's trying."

"He looks dizzy," Jaune noted.

"That's his thinking pose!" Nora rebutted.

"He's about to fall over…"

"And THAT'S when I jump in!" Nora whizzed off to catch Ren before he hit the pavement. Jaune chuckled as Nora played off Ren's fainting as just tripping over his shoelaces… wait… did Ren even have shoe-laces?

"Wait! There's a boat arriving, it looks… Mistrali! Oh! Some of the Mistrali teams must be arriving from that!" Weiss interjected right before anyone could say anything about whether or not Ren had shoe-laces. She pranced over to the entrance to the dock, clearly interested in greeting the coming challengers and weighing their skill.

"Maybe Sun's on that boat, ay Blakey!" Yang ribbed Blake in the stomach, as she mildly blushed.

"Oh yeah… he was training in Haven…" Ruby scratched her chin, "…why was he here in Vale last year again? It was awfully convenient for Blake's uh…." Ruby suddenly shrunk back, "…. Episode?"

"More like a couple episodes," Yang continued ribbing Blake as she mildly shrunk back.

"He said he wanted to take a vacation," Blake mumbled, "said that schoolwork was hard and that his team could cover for him."

"Made more sense than that Penny girl's excuse from showing up away from Atlas, to… uh…"

"Learn about places outside of Atlas! She was so excited to look around, even if she was a little…. Awkward…" Ruby scratched the back of her head, "but she was so sweet and helped us with finding Blake during her… episode."

"More like last episode." Yang shrugged.

"Can we stop talking about that? I told you all I'm sorry that I didn't come to you and all that..." Blake seemed desirous to move on to another subject. Jaune took that as his opportunity to talk about the upcoming X-Ray and Vav TV series that he was excited for. While he knew that Weiss, Blake, and Ren wouldn't care, he knew that everyone else that he inadvertently got hooked to the series could revel in his fanboy-isms.

"So, I…."

"WHY DO WE KEEP LEAVING OUR BANANAS UNGUARDED?"

"BECAUSE WHO WOULD STEAL BANANAS?!"

"A THIEF WHO LOVES BANANAS, THAT'S WHO! OR SOMEONE VERY HUNGRY!"

"I think Sun may be on that boat," Weiss pointed out in a deadpan voice, regarding the screams of some of the sailors. Blake sighed and face-palmed as Yang and Ruby giggled almost uncontrollably. Team JNPR looked amongst themselves confused.

"Do you know who Sun is?" Jaune regarded Pyrrha, who shook her head.

"I don't know every Mistrali, just the ones who competed in the regionals or went to Sanctum. I don't know a 'Sun.'"

"That's because I went to school in Vacuo!" Team JNPR jumped as a monkey faunus suddenly appeared behind them, hanging upside down eating a banana. He outreached his hands towards Pyrrha, "nice to meet such a legend." Pyrrha took it and shook it, almost robotoically, "And this is your team, cool, cool…. Hey RWBY! And…" he pointed his upside down hands like miniature guns, "hey Blake." He winked.

"Shouldn't you be running from some sailors for stealing their bananas?"

"Not an official banana freighter, so it's just some petty thieving for me to just ASSUME they were complimentary to the passengers." He pulled out a banana and took a bite.

"There he is, chase him!"

"Or maybe I should run, catch y'all later!" He swung up onto the light fixture from which he was hanging, leaped off, and started running.

Jaune looked off to the running monkey faunus. _A faunus who steals, and a monkey who likes bananas… this guy does NOTHING to help faunus rights._ Better than a White Fang soldier, however. Still, Blake couldn't possibly like….

"Blake… your cheeks are redder than Pyrrha's hair." Yang pointed out.

 _Why are women so complicated and contradictory?_

A bunch of other people came off the ship, some of whom Pyrrha recognized, others she didn't. She gave note that some lion looking lady named Arslan Altan was the business, and that her minimal metal weaponry was a pain compared to other opponents. Everyone else she didn't seem impressed by.

"Hey, did you happen to see..." some guy with blue hair walked up, "….ladies more beautiful than you? Because I haven't!" He pointed his hand like a gun, similar to the monkey faunus named Sun, and winked.

 _Oum my Monty that reminds me of MY cheesy pick-up lines._ That may work on some casual bimbo from Haven, but it wouldn't work on these girls, ESPECIALLY Weiss. They would just shut him down and…

"Oh, well… I mean… I…" Weiss was blushing.

Wat?

 _Why are women so complicated and contradictory?_

"Save it for the arena hot-stuff!" Yang responded the way that Jaune expected her to respond. So nice! "So I can punch you if you try that again."

"Excuse my team-mate," a green haired, muscular man walked up beside him, "he was supposed to ask if you've seen a blonde, similarly dressed," he motioned to himself, shirt unbuttoned to reveal a killer set of abs, "monkey faunus on the loose? We're his team and we probably need to bail him out from the authorities."

"Oh! You must be Sun's team!" Ruby whizzed up and shook the green haired guy's hand. "I'm Ruby! Leader of team RWBY, and this is Yang, Weiss, and Blake! That's team JNPR, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren!"

"I know of Pyrrha, pleasure," the green haired man bowed his head slightly. "I'm Sage, this guy is Neptune and…." he gave a tired look behind him, "that guy over there, lugging massive amounts of luggage, is Scarlet, my partner."

"It's absolutely IMPORTANT!" Scarlet seemed to scream as he lugged a massive suitcase, "it helps my strength and gives me every supply I could possibly need!"

"I like his style," Weiss nodded towards Scarlet, "not… that… your style isn't so…" her head turned towards Neptune.

"If you like his style, you'll certainly enjoy that he cried like a baby when we got on this ship because…."

"I WAS SO EXCITED I HAD TEARS OF JOY! NOT because I was travelling on water, why would I cry because of that? No! It was the excitement!"

"Well, it's great to see someone as excited for the Vytal Festival as I am! It's great to meet you…. Neptune, right?" _This is happening. Weiss is crushing on someone who's cheesier than me and clearly has a fear of water. If you're going to lie, never state the truth._ Jaune felt his hand be slightly pat as he turned to see a sympathetic Pyrrha, who seemed to be chuckling at his expense. He also felt an aggressive pat on his shoulder, he turned to see Nora.

"It's clearly the blue hair. If you had blue hair, she would've been all yours." Nora whispered in his ear, mild laughter clearly enunciating her remarks.

He hated everything.

"Well, I'm hungry, I'm going to go-" As Jaune walked forward, still observing the scene that frustrated him to no end, he bumped into someone accidentally.

His reflexes being sharpened after training and fighting horrid monstrosities with a dog… and avoiding things that would clearly kill him training that dog… he felt that person start falling before he even recognized that person as a him or her. His arms jutted out and grasped the back of the woman's… huh, it's a woman… torso. Her hands clasped around his arms, her fingers curving over his biceps.

"I'm so sorry, I-" Jaune was a thoughtful man. He valued that he thought more with his head than anything else, and his heart came second. Still, his libido still stood on the podium in third, and right now, that was making a scene.

He had seen many beautiful women in Beacon, but this one? She was SEXY! Down to her dress that revealed her milky white legs and the gratuity of her curves. Her eyes burned like fire. Her skin was about as smooth as it could be.

He was a gentleman. He saw a woman more on the inside rather than her outer beauty… didn't mean he couldn't appreciate it though.

He's been holding her for too long. Her fingers had starting tracing his now defined muscles. Her legs were situated between his, sifting in clear discomfort. Her eyes were wide with shock and almost anger.

"Sorry!" He said again as he lifted her upright and let go. "I didn't mean to…. I… uh…"

"It's fine." The woman clearly stated, "just… please, avoid that next time." She gave a smile that seemed like it could viciously murder, as she just left, strutting like she was some kind of model. Behind her two other people looked at each other incredibly confused, looked at Jaune as if they were surprised he was alive, and followed the woman. Clearly those were her team-mates.

But where was her fourth?

"Wow, Jaune…" a clasp on his shoulder became more aggressive, "seems like we're ALL getting some action here!" Nora said it incredibly aggressively, as if challenging him to decline. Pyrrha simply stood back suppressing some kind of blush.

"It was an accident! I swear! I would never…"

Nora let go, and started to laugh, though it seemed forced. "I know that it was an accident… but then again, it wouldn't be the FIRST accident to leave such a good impression with a lady…" Nora winked at Pyrrha, who blushed even harder.

"I'd hardly call it an accident not knowing me…" Pyrrha mumbled. Jaune sighed: it's not like Pyrrha could just let go of her feelings overnight.

"Well! What were you going to say before you were so rudely interrupted?" Nora returned the conversation to Jaune, motioning for him to continue.

"Well, I thought we could-"

"RUBY!" A shrill voice shrieked as heavy clacking of something incredibly heavy moving incredibly fast could be heard.

"Penny! I-AUGHH- whyyyyy…" Jaune turned his head to see Ruby being toppled over by a rather… innocent looking figure. She had bright orange hair and a pink bow. She rose up, looking incredibly happy."

"Oh, I am not Penny, I am…." She looked back at another figure who appeared running in the streets, from a different direction as the Mistrali ship. He waved his hands in a 'no' gesture.

"Actually, yes, I am Penny!" She smiled. Jaune found that incredibly weird, but considering how RWBY seemed to react like such a remark was expected, this girl must be off her rocker. Oh yeah… Penny. Ruby just mentioned her a couple moments ago.

"You know, just because I CAN run like crazy, doesn't mean I like it!" The man caught up to Penny. He was short… really short. He was around Weiss's height, which for a guy was almost shameful. He wore a blue blazer, blue slacks, black loafers, a white dress shirt, and a blue bowtie. His hair was orange, though it had shades of grey in it. He also had thin rimmed spectacles, which covered icy blue eyes.

"Hi! Nice to meet you!" Ruby walked up to the short man. "I assume you must be Penny's… father?"

"What?" The man seemed taken aback. "No! No… that guy…. that guy isn't one to sit in a crowded stadium with a bunch of sweaty combat enthusiasts, no. He's staying in Atlas in the comfort of his own home. Me… I'm here on business, and he just wants me to keep an eye on his, uh…" he reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out a crumbled up piece of paper, "'his little pumpkin,' I mean… I GUESS she has orange hair but 'pumpkin?'"

"It's so great to see you, Ruby!" Penny's voice returned Jaune's gaze to the girl. "I… uh… are these your new friends?" She gestured towards him and his team.

Ruby smiled, "yes, this is Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora! They form Team JNPR."

"Huh! I should've known!" The short guy exclaimed as he walked up to Jaune and offered his hand, Jaune decided to shake it. "I've heard a LOT about you!"

"That's… uh… nice…. But I… haven't about you…."

"Figures." The man guffawed, "I'm…."

"Professor Pluto Glass of Atlas Academy," Weiss finished, smiling at the man, curtseying judiciously, "it's GREAT to see you again, sir!"

There was a silence as the man turned to Weiss, his eyes level with hers. He coughed into his hand. Weiss raised an eyebrow in confusion. He coughed twice again into his hand. Weiss didn't say anything.

With a sigh, the man said, "DOCTOR Pluto Glass, Weiss." His eyes shifted back to Jaune, "I was your mother's partner in Atlas. And can I just say that I am SO sorry you had to live the rest of your life with that woman? I could barely handle it for four years!" He laughed, as Jaune gave a nervous chuckle. He felt the world slowly start strangling him, with this man's sardonic voice being the hands that twisted at his throat.

"I kid, I kid, your Mom is awesome: Couldn't ask for a better partner." His smile seemed to falter slightly, but it still remained. "Made me her children's godfather, though I assume that simply means I have the most stable job of anyone she knows…. Shows how much she knows about my job." The chuckle he released came out sad. "Hey, uh… do you mind if I talk to you in private, for a moment? It won't be too long…"

"Uh… sure? If… well…." Jaune looked up at his team, pleading that his team could get him out of this. This man made him uncomfortable.

"No, that's fine."

"Don't keep Jaune for too long!"

Ren just stayed silent.

 _Why must you betray me like this!_

"Excellent! Come here Jaune!" His hand splatted on Jaune's back as he guided him away from his comfort zone. After a noticeable amount of distance was made, they turned into an alleyway where there was no one there.

"Okay… hobos?" Dr. Glass started pacing through the alley, checking the dumpsters and shady corners. "Muggers?" He widened his arms in a 'come-at-me-bro' stance. No one came at him. After the theatrics were handled, he leaned along a wall.

"So, Jaune, I wasn't lying. I HAVE heard a lot about you, but while most of it WAS from Lumen, not all of it was." He crossed his arms. "I know your involvement in this…. Beast thing."

"Wait… you do?" Jaune felt a shiver go down his spine, "wait… why…."

"I'm Atlas's second in command, at least school wise. James wouldn't want me running the military…" Dr. Glass chuckled. "Look, I'm not going to beat around the bush. Atlas wants me to perform experiments on that dog."

"EXPERIMENTS?" A hand covered Jaune's mouth.

"Sheesh Jaune, not so loud!" The man removed the offending hand, "yeah, I know, I'm not a big fan of it either, but Atlas pays me and I have to agree with them that if we could somehow… understand the power of it past whatever that old wives' tale simply says, that it could do a lot of good."

"But…. But… it's not even MINE to even PERMIT such an experiment!" Jaune had only known his godfather for a good couple of minutes, but already the man churned his stomach. There was something about him, something that….

Wait, he was his mom's partner…. Yeah, that was probably it. He was probably the embodiment of what Mom wanted to stay away from. She DID call him crazy, right?

"I know it's not yours, at least… not legally… but…" he sighed, "I PROMISE not to be too invasive. No prodding his insides, no harsh radioactive scans, I just need to observe the nature of his… aura/Grimm hybrid thing. You can even be present, you and… uh… Nora(?), just to make sure I don't overstep any bounds."

Jaune really wanted to say no. Just wanted to thank this man, walk off, but there was a pleading in his eyes.

"We NEED to understand how these things work, Jaune. You want to know why we don't tell anyone about these fantastical things that are real?" He adjusted his spectacles as Jaune shook his head 'no.' "Because there is a LOT more of it out there, and if we reveal to the world of the 'beast,' they'll ask, 'what ELSE from my childhood bed-time routine is actually true? And here's the thing, _we don't know._ And of what we DO know, we DON'T know what side these things are on. That girl, the one that accompanied me… she's part of this. You're now part of this…. I'm part of this! Nora is part of this, and since we are ALL a part of this… we need to work together, so…"

Jaune still felt uneasy, "you said Nora and I can supervise?"

"Of course!"

"Will you stop if we ask you to stop?"

"Most certainly!"

Jaune sighed, "does Ozpin approve?"

"Ozpin approved of me observing the maiden."

"Oh, well, that explains… wait… What Maiden?"

Dr. Glass smacked his forehead and groaned, "I'll… I'll explain later, let's… just go back to your team. I'll contact you when I would like to do the experiment."

Did he agree to the experiment? Jaune was escorted out of the alleyway and walked back to where his team was before. They seemed to be waiting patiently.

"Did I miss anything?"

"Only that RWBY wanted to go for lunch," Ren off-handedly mentioned, "and that 'Penny' wanted to try out 'human'-she meant 'Valian' food."

"That was such an odd slip of the tongue!" Nora emphasized as Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"Well… let's get some human food ourselves." Jaune didn't really regard Dr. Glass as he groaned and started looking at his scroll, obviously a tracker of some kind.

* * *

Cinder felt herself frustrated. She gritted her teeth and wanted to hurt someone. Emerald and Mercury believed it to be their lack of truly eloquent accommodations. But it was not that.

She calmly set up in her dorm. Not the most lavish, but it was suitable. It had beds with okay mattresses, and a window for her to stare out as she glowered at the world. Emerald and Mercury were off doing something… pedestrian and normal and not evil genius, while Neo was… well… knowing where Neo was wasn't worth the time and effort. She was probably reuniting with Torchwick if anything.

So the room was nice. It could've been better but it could've been much worse. Luxury would arrive once her lady had taken over the world, with her by the Grimm witch's side.

Still… why did she have to be put next to Team SING? Those choral audiophiles were going to drive her nuts, with their singing and frolicking, currently warming up with some old Mistrali Gregorian Chant.

 _Peace and Tranquility?_

 _Is it possible?_

 _Serene Absolution_

 _Is it obtainable?_

 _Many of us seek what we inevitably cannot find_

 _But it is fine_

 _If we just keep trying…_

Damn old fashioned choir tunes. She would drown them out… She flicked her wrist and created a fire in her dorm. There was no fireplace, but it was magic fire, it didn't spread unless she wanted to. It was fine.

But the roaring of the fire failed to drown out their damn warm-up. There were thoughts that needed sorting. Maybe Salem could help out, her guidance was always appreciated.

She pulled out her glove. No response. _Damn!_ Team SING continued to loudly go into the next verse, which, because it was old and self-important, was very similar to the first.

 _GAH!_ What was she to do? She looked at the glove, and she bored her own fiery eyes into the flame that she begot.

If Team SING was going to sing and frolic? Well… she was going to sing… and _Frollo_ c.

 _Please pick up, dear Salem_

 _You know I am a vicious bitch_

 _Of my evil I am justly proud_

[Choir (Team SING): "Let's be Good in our Hearts!"]

 _Please pick up, dear Salem_

 _You know that I am more worth it_

 _Than your drooling, non-prudish, stupid Grimm crowd!_

[Choir: "Practice Humility!"]

 _I need you, dear Salem!_

 _I'm haunted by the boy I saw_

 _The one who we have tried so hard to kill_

["We live for all men"]

 _I see him! I FEEL him!_

 _The toned muscle that felt so raw_

 _Is making my core begin to swoon and swill!_

["Here comes the climax!"]

 _Like Fire!_

 _Fall Fire!_

 _The Fire in my Breast!_

 _This burning…._

 _Desire…._

 _Is causing me some Stress!_

 _It's not my fault!_

["You want to bang the guy"]

 _I'm not to blame_

["You want to bang the guy"]

 _It's the beast's master, the foe who stoked my flame_

["Your 'Flame's' a euphemism!"]

 _It's not my fault!_

["You need some Stress Relief"]

 _It is his plan_

["You want to taste his beef"]

 _He used the beast's power to make me less than I aaaaammmmm!_

 _So please pick up Salem!_

 _Don't let me wallow in my flame_

 _Don't let the bastard steal my soul and heart!_

 _Destroy Jaune and Nora!_

 _And let you taste their aura and blood!_

 _Or else let me take Nora's place and part…_

Emerald walked in, causing Cinder to immediately turn around, breathing heavily.

"Hey Cinder, so we…. WHY IS THE ROOM ON FIRE?"

"What?" Cinder looked around. The fire had expanded to all the beds and the carpeting. But that wouldn't have happened unless she…

Emerald apparently ran back to the door, "our neighbors, Team SING, aren't there anymore! No wonder they hadn't pulled a fire alarm!"

Wait… Team SING weren't around for when she was… "But… how…. I mean… nevermind!"

"Get a fire extinguisher you idiot!" Cinder pointed away as Emerald closed the door.

"Yes… that's what I'll do… I'll take her place. I'll seduce Jaune and take Nora's place!" Cinder smiled evilly.

 _Fall Fire!_

 _Dark Cinders!_

 _Now trainer it's your turn!_

 _Choose me this_

 _world's winner!_

 _Be mine or you WILL BURN!_

["She thinks that fire's kinky"]

 _Now I'll just deal with her…._

["Nora's gonna get bugged!"]

 _Than he might be with me…_

["This isn't the best plan…"]

 _Then when we control the beast_

 _We…_

 _Will…._

 _POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKKK!_

Emerald returned with a fire extinguisher, snuffing out the flame that engulfed the room. She was successful, but it wasn't like she could fool HERSELF that the room was liveable.

They'll probably have to camp outside. However, Cinder was already passed out on the floor.

Emerald learned to not ask questions.

* * *

Neo had so many questions. Like… a LOT of questions. First they try to kill him, now Cinder wants to….

No. Hell no. Every type of Underworld no. It wasn't because Cinder was now very aggressively planning Nora's demise, it was just… Cinder… and her brother….

She'd almost rather have Torchwick have gay feelings towards him than this self-important psychotic twat. And considering Jaune, he would NEVER date someone like Cinder, let alone… fuck someone like Cinder. Well… maybe he would, Cinder would probably be very adept at manipulating someone's hormones. However.

No. No. No. No no nonononononononono. NO. This ship was NOT setting sail. She may be fine with letting Beacon and Vale fall, but Cinder was NOT sleeping with her brother.

And unfortunately, if she was to still remain on Jaune's good side, as well as provide a proper twat-block, she was going to have to actively protect Nora. But she couldn't be seen actively protecting Nora…

Which meant she's going to have to secretly interact with Nora. Again.

 _Oum my Monty just like she wanted…_

* * *

 **A/N: Congratulations "Ever Professional" for being the FIRST person to guess that Cinder would sing the next song! I'll PM you a couple days after this chapter "airs" so you have a chance to read and not spoil yourself. If you are reading this, though, PM me whatever Omake prompt you want. It can be anything! Any subject! Any ship! Any AU, Alternate Canon Endings, and Rule… WHATEVERS of the internet, just… nothing lemony. I theoretically could make the Omake Rated "M" and put that as a disclaimer, but… I don't want to write a lemon. Nothing wrong with lemons it's just… don't expect a good one from me.**

 **Also, shout out to ZHsteven for also guessing Cinder. You may not have been first, but that doesn't change the fact you were right! About the character… not the song. I just thought "Hellfire" would be more appropriate to parody with Cinder than "Be Prepared."**

 **Also, yes, I understand Dr. Glass seems like every sarcastic OC ever made. Don't worry. I made him up. I like him because of that. But he isn't pivotal in this story. He's just there to compliment Penny and act as a mad scientist. That's all. Considering the minimal amount of people who left during the last arc comes to show my OCs aren't the _worst_ , but I understand people who prefer them not to exist, or at the very least play a minor roll. Dr. Glass plays a minor role, I promise. This ain't Weiss vs. Atlas, this is Zwei-Handlers!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Listen to you Inner Choral Backup!**


	24. Bitches Be Trippin'

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Nora found herself in a dreamless sleep. She was in the comforting void of slumber, her sheets her companions, her pillow her friend, her mattress her support, and 'Ren's' stuffed animals as her security. No one was going to sneak up on her in her sleep and-

 _BONK!_

Nora's eyes flew open as she felt something hit her on the head. Her training dictated that if someone touched her without her knowledge, it was something trying to sneak attack her! Or…. Ren trying to wake her up when he was out of pancake batter. Was it Ren? Nora looked around to see Ren was asleep.

Oh no! The room had an assassin! She must be prepared and-

 _BONK!_

Nora was about to shout out loud as her head had once again collided with an unseen projectile, but she suddenly felt a hand on her mouth. By instinct she licked the hand, which for some reason she couldn't see. She felt the hand grasp her cheeks with annoyed aggression, as she was yanked out of bed by the unseen force. Nora was frightened until she saw what the unknown force was.

She instead became purely horrified.

"Nora…" The Valkyrie heard Ren groan, "is it the dream with the Sloth Army and the…. Oh never mind, you're still asleep…

 _What? I'm not in bed! Renny, it's a-_ Somehow her THOUGHTS were continuously being interrupted as she was whisked out of the room with nary a sound made, the hand still pressed firmly on her face.

As Nora had a feeling would become tradition, Neo took Nora to the woman's rest room, which she promptly barred and locked. She looked annoyed. Not scary like usual. _Annoyed._ As if something that didn't as much infuriate her as much as it disgusted her.

Which startled Nora even more. _What would disgust Neo?_

Well, they were in 'their special place,' might as well 'talk,' about it. "Neo! You're looking good! Is that a new perfume I love the fragrance! Are those the same heels you-" her foot slammed into her throat, pinning her to a wall. "Yep… those are the same heels… they kick SO well! No wonder you don't replace them! If it ain't broke don't- OW!" Neo pushed her further into the wall, "okay I get it, I get it, I'll let you spe- I mean…. Get a word in."

Neo withdrew her foot as Nora… stood still. As menacing as Neo was, it wasn't like she could drive Nora up the wall with her foot, she had to obey the rules of physics, including the limitations presented by her height.

Neo reached into her cleavage and pulled out a ball, and threw it at Nora's head.

 _BONK!_

"Hey! Why would you-" Neo gave a look, "-I mean… thank you! I LOVE having things thrown at me!" Neo motioned her eyes towards the ball, that was now resting near the base of Nora's feet. Nora knelt down and picked up the ball, seeing it now as a rock with paper wrapped around the stone. _Really?_ Nora unwrapped the paper and dropped the stone on the ground, having it collide with her bare feet, smashing a couple toes. Nora winced as she refused to give Neo any more satisfaction with her physical pain.

Neo gave a sadistic smile of satisfaction. Nora ignored it as she read the paper.

 _I need your help._

Nora blinked. She blinked because she needed to blink, not because of shock. Still, Nora continued staring incredulously, blinking every once in a while to prevent her eyes from drying out.

"You?" Nora pointed at Neo. "What me?" She used her other hand to point at herself. "To help you?" Nora couldn't think of a gesture so she just kept her fingers awkwardly pointing. "Do you want me to kill someone? Because I DON'T want to kill anyone. At least… not anyone who ISN'T the embodiment of pure evil…. I mean, I love breaking the occasional limb but-"

 _BONK!_

"You know, if I was Weiss, I'd be REALLY indignant right now…" Nora sighed as she bent down to pick up the other rock that was stuck between her boobs. Wouldn't that be uncomfortable?... Well, it wasn't like she COULDN'T try it out.

 _It's for Jaune. YOU don't kill._

"Oh thank Oum I, wait… will I be HELPING-"

 _BONK!_

 _No one will die because of this…. Maybe. Probably not. No guarantees._

"Of course they're no guarantees…. How many rocks do you HAVE in there?"

Nora ducked underneath the rock that went flying at her head. "Hah! Missed!" Nora stood there, awkwardly as Neo refused to make a single sound in regard to her brilliant outburst. Nora continued standing in the cringe-worthy silence.

"I…. I was honestly expecting another rock."

Neo raised an eyebrow.

"You know, I go 'hah missed!' but then you hit me with something else, or maybe kick me or something more?…. You know what forget it." Nora sighed as she turned around and bent over to pick up the rock. She turned back around to see Neo holding Magnhild somehow, her hands greedily clenching the handle.

"So… you're not saying anything and gripping Magnhild like you want to hit-"

 _THWAP!_

Nora was hit across the head with her own weapon. To be fair she should've expected this.

She groaned as she unraveled the next message. _Tomorrow. Junior's Club. Nine in the Morning. Go Incognito. I'll pay._ She then vanished.

Nora sighed as she unbarred the bathroom herself. She picked up Magnhild, which Neo disrespectfully left on the filthy floor, and went back to Team JNPR's room.

It's not like she'd be able to sleep again, so she turned on her scroll, and perused through her apps.

"Uhg, Sky, why did I add you on ScrollSnap and what is with all the teeth brushing selfies?"

* * *

"Are you nervous Penny?" Dr. Pluto Glass's question caught the robot by surprise.

"What? Of course not! Why would I be nervous? I…"

"You haven't even ATTEMPTED setting ANYTHING on fire, and you actually responded genuinely to 'Penny,' not with a 'I am reborn! I am the Phoenix! I am not just fire, I am fury!' or something like that."

Penny sucked in a huge amount of air and let out a sigh, which was odd considering she didn't need to breathe. "What if they don't like me?" Penny admitted glumly. She was always insecure when her… ahem…. Biology was discussed out loud. However, it would be the first time it would be discussed to people who didn't know her squishy bits were actually nuts and bolts and actually some oddly squishy adhesive that kept her together.

"Well, if they don't like you, you can join the club." Dr. Glass walked alongside her. Penny looking down at the short man whose strides reeked of over-confidence that clashed with her tepid footsteps.

"They don't like you?"

"Ozpin finds me unsettling. When you tamper with aura, you tamper with the soul itself. And when you tamper with the soul itself…. People give you strange looks… and it drives you mad and your fiancée leaves you." Dr. Glass mutely murmured that last part, but Penny's enhanced auditory senses picked it up. "As for Glynda, her competitive spirit is a vengeful bitch and I…. well…. I beat her in the Vytal Festival."

"Wait, you BEAT Ms. Goodwitch in the Festival? How?"

"My semblance is Reflection. Her semblance is Telekinesis. I play tennis in my off time, she doesn't." The mad scientist laughed, "also, her weapon is crap. I mean, it's just a fetish tool. THIS…" Dr. Glass reached into his blazer and pulled out what seemed like a rainbow baton. "Now THIS is a katana! I mean…. Now THIS is a weapon!"

"Ooooh, pretty colors…" Penny's ocular enhancers widened as she gazed at Dr. Glass's weapon, which, according to her database, was called 'Sliderule.'

"Dust, Penny, dust. Just because you have fire powers that don't require dust anymore, still doesn't mean that you shouldn't learn the worth of such a resource, even if the substance is run by some of the biggest rectum-exits in Remnant."

"Rectum-exits? I am not familiar with that term."

"It's a classier way to say 'asshole.' If you're going to be talking to people like Glynda and Ozpin, which you are since you are now the Maiden of Fall, you might as well learn how to talk 'classy.'"

"I thought I was only 'half' a maiden." She didn't have all the facts, only the bare bones of what the Doctor did to her. The aura of someone was overlaid with her original aura, the origins of which she also wasn't entirely informed on, and that gave her powers, but not all of them, as the other half had been taken. It didn't fully agree with her body originally, but her father, Glister Polendina, made some adjustments to account for her increase in interior body temperature.

She also felt compelled her to explore the joys of pyromania.

"That's the end goal, but first we need to find the power thief, and I have just the plan to draw her out."

"And that is?..."

"You." Dr. Glass gave his usual sardonic smile. "We're here! I've always wanted to see the Beacon Vault, the oldest of its kind."

"Oooh, a vault! Is it like a place to practice gymnastics?"

"…. Penny, remind me to update your dictionary and thesaurus archives."

"Okay! At what time sir?"

"Probably after the next page break," the elevator opened suddenly to reveal Ozpin with his cane anchored at the ground, and Glynda standing ominously at his side. "Good evening Pluto, I should've known you'd be shoe horned in."

"You're lucky James didn't come. At least I know what I'm talking about when it comes to Atlas technology." He lifted his hand, and Ozpin begrudgingly shook it. He then offered it to Goodwitch, who stood there stoically looking at his hand like it was a picture of Nora playing with her dear crop, which Penny got when cruising the Beacon social network. There was so much hi-jinks she couldn't wait to be involved in! "I see you haven't changed much Glynda…." He then lowered his eye lids in a mocking gaze, "… because you can't touch me."

"Clever." Glynda simply stated, her voice rigid with emotional restraint. "Shall we talk business? And… who is that?" She pointed over to Penny, who felt herself shrink from the strict woman's finger. She was even scarier than Ironwood! "I didn't see her on any student list from Atlas."

"This is Penny 'Phoenix' Polendina. She's a transfer student. She'll be accompanying me. Say hello, Penny…."

 _Okay Penny, be subtle. Be cool. Like a person. You may not be human, but you are a person. Just respond with that intent._

"Hi! I'm Penny! I'm a person! Totally a person! Not a robot with ancient magical fire powers, no siree!"

There was an awkward silence. They weren't accusing her of being a robot! Success!

"What was that thing Lumen always said?" Dr. Glass groaned while pinching his nose. He looked up to see Ozpin and Glynda's synchronized eyebrow raise. "I'll explain on the ride down and in the vault. Shall we?"

They descended into the darkest depths beneath Beacon as Dr. Glass ratted out her secret like it was no big deal. Yes, it WAS the plan to inform them, but… it was so…. Violating!

"Is… is she biologically competent?" was Ozpin's question.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Penny couldn't help but ask for herself.

"He means he's wondering that there's any feasibility of shipping you with anybody…." Glynda sighed. Dr. Glass laughed.

"It's not 'shipping,' Glynda, it's simply testing my prediction abilities." Ozpin replied simply, pulling out a cup of coffee and sipping it. "So, Penny… are you?"

"I… still don't understand the question."

"No. Glister isn't THAT weird." Dr. Glass responded to Ozpin, he then turned to Penny. "I'll explain when you're at least ten."

"Ozpin, may I ask the question that's actually important?" Glynda asked as Ozpin gave the go ahead by gesturing with his coffee hand. Glynda turned to Pluto, "she said she had magical fire powers, does that mean…"

"It had to be done." Dr. Glass immediately responded, earning shocked and judging looks from the Beacon professors. Ozpin's eyebrows rose. Glynda's eyebrows furrowed. Indeed, it was the pinnacle of facial expression for those two. "What? You think I'd just keep a weapon of magical proportions locked away in one of my labs without using it? Give me a break…"

"You were supposed to wait for our input! The maiden powers are not something to give just to anybody, let alone your science project!"

"Ouch, Glynda! She's right here!" Dr. Glass motioned to Penny, who decided not to say anything. She couldn't blush, but she did inadvertently set her synthetic cheeks on fire. "She DOES have a soul you know!" He then looked closely at her face, "and the fireproofing on her synthetic skin is working wonders!"

"I apologize if I am hurting… Penny's…. feelings." Glynda straightened up, continuing to not truly grant visual acknowledgement outside of a sideways glance, "but it still doesn't take into account you went behind our backs!"

"Well, I had a good reason!"

"Which is?"

"Your ideas are generally stupid."

The elevator finally reached the darkened depths of the vault. It looked worse for wear. Penny's sensors could detect various cracks in the walls, craters, dislodged piping, a pulsating blob that Penny couldn't explain, and crumbs of chips littering the floor. Pluto snorted, amused at the wreckage. Glynda sighed and Ozpin just started walking, his cane striking the ground with an aura of importance.

"What do you mean stupid? I get that, despite James being your boss, you have him on a leash with your cooperation. But you DON'T get to talk to us like that!" Glynda continued to accuse Pluto.

"Your original idea was to bring the injured maiden HERE, in this vault, underneath Beacon, during the Vytal Festival…. Where everyone is vulnerable…. And a wide televised event that can be sabotaged, just for a chance to find the ultimate prize. That's not even taking into account you'd do something STUPID in picking a 'guardian.' Who'd have to be strong enough to fight, but naïve enough to think she NEEDED the power to fight." He laughed. "No offense, but you have to admit, that is what we like to call, a lack of foresight."

"Well, what makes Penny any better?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Dr. Glass moved over to Penny, wrapping his arm around the taller robot's shoulders. "Aura Generating Robots, or AuGeRs, as we've been calling them, are just like any huntress or huntsman! They have weapons, aura, and even personalities!" Penny smiled as Pluto continued describing her as something _normal._ So nice. "But…. They aren't _made_ like a human. No biology here, just metal components." Penny frowned.

"So?" Glynda motioned with her crop to move it along.

"Well, if I recall from your source, is that the target, in order to ascertain the powers were transferred to her, used an Ancient Grimm Glove of Yore to summon a parasite, which sucked the power from Amber to… let's just call her Bitch."

"That's inappropriate!" Glynda interjected.

"I'll let it pass." Ozpin counseled, with Glynda scowling.

"Thing is, a parasite bites into fleshy skin, and syphons the aura along with the juicy insides of Amber's face…. Penny here, her skin has a soft touch to it, but it's a thin layer that coats a hard metallic cage that houses her inner…. Uh… brain matrix. If the parasite tried to bite HER…"

"…it would not find anything to sink its teeth into, not allowing it the depth of the bite that would allow proper aura syphoning…" Ozpin finished.

"Exactly!" Pluto finished, nodding aggressively. "What we have here…. Is our true Guardian! Not some first year out-of-her-league yet out-of-her-depth…."

"We wouldn't have picked a first year!" Glynda denied, then looked at Ozpin, "well…. we PROBABLY wouldn't have picked a first year…."

"But a Guardian our enemies aren't expecting!" Pluto turned to Penny, his smile widening ear to ear, "a Guardian with actual FORESIGHT placed into it! So, whaddya say, Penny! Would you like to be our Guardian?" Ozpin and Glynda looked at the robot. She felt herself shrinking. Shouldn't she be thrilled? She was being accepted! She was going to be a hero! She was… she was…

"This sounds like I'm bait."

"…okay, maybe you are, but after that, you are a GUARDIAN! A Fall Maiden, wielding powers that even I and Ozpin and Glynda (because she's too old) can wield! Look…." Dr. Glass walked up to Penny and put a hand on his shoulder, "I made a promise to your Dad, okay? This is dangerous, but you AREN'T doing this alone, alright?"

"….I'm not alone?"

"No, you are not alone. You got me, you even got Ozpin, and maybe Glynda," he turned behind him, the higher-ups in Beacon looked at each other, and then gave resentful half-nods, "and of course the people of Beacon. Even your team!"

"I have a team!" Penny lifted her arms in celebration, "wait… who?"

"A little cat named Neon was spotted vandalizing things with spray paint… again, I used this opportunity to give team FNPKI an alternate that replace the ne'er do-ell in the Festival!…. The 'P' is silent."

"Yay! Can I meet them now?"

"In due time, now…. Now we observe the stasis pods that Atlas shipped over here to Beacon!"

"Why did you want to see those anyway?" Glynda asked.

"Simple… I want to see what kind of tools I'm working with…" the madman rubbed his hands together. "Let's start sciencing!"

"That's not a word."

"Damn it Glynda I'm a scientist not a lexicographer!"

"I got that reference," Ozpin muttered.

* * *

Jaune woke up with a contented sigh. It was Sunday: the last day of a well-deserved week-end, and the final day of transfers moving in. He wasn't exactly thrilled to meet a bunch of people that could very well beat his ass. Yes, he's probably the only one among them that survived the attack of some of the most ridiculous Grimm in the books, but that was because he had Zwei: and Nora.

He was the first one up, on those rare cases where he beats Pyrrha's regimented sleep schedule. He looked around his room to see his team. Ren was peacefully breathing. Pyrrha was snoring like a drowning hyena, and Nora was…. faking it.

And here he was, thinking that he was going to look at Nora's sleeping form and monologue how important the girl had become to him this semester. Oh well.

"Nora…. Why are you pretending to be asleep?"

Nora jolted out of bed, her eyes widening. "I was…. I was simply… trying to fall back asleep but I couldn't."

Jaune stared at Nora, "that's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it?'"

"No unusual excuse? No, 'I was waiting for the sloths to come' or… or something?"

"Jaune…. Really?"

"You just like really giving bizarre excuses."

"Really? Name one!"

"Farting out Dogs."

"…..fine. Want to go to breakfast?"

"I would be delighted. You got anywhere you need to be?"

"I have to make it downtown at nine, for…. Uh….. shtuff."

They walked out of the room and made their way to the cafeteria. "What kind of shtuff?"

"The kind of shtuff you wouldn't enjoy…. Feminine shtuff. Gotta shop for proper hygenic items, like…"

"Nope! I have seven sisters, I already know ALL about it, forget I asked." Jaune groaned as Nora giggled that adorable giggle.

To think someone so innocent sounding and so kind and gentle is just such a ruthless combatant: an immeasurable ally in the field. Agreed, Pyrrha was the best all round fighter, no doubt about it, but Nora was unabashed loyalty. She was destruction that was willing to listen. She was fearlessness combined with an arsenal. Pyrrha could fight an individual. Nora could decimate an army. And that was only her fighting skills.

Nora was a jovial person to be around. She laughed. She jived. She even occasionally sung with a fully organized backup choir, through bribery of pancakes. She wanted to be the life of the party, but when push came to shove, she was one of the most approachable people for a hug, even if that hug could somehow snap you in half.

Jaune was lucky it was 'The Beast and the TWO Trainers,' not the 'ONE Trainer.' If that was the case he would've been doomed. If the way Glynda told them not to talk about it to anyone else was an indicator, as well as what his… Godfather?... said, it seemed that the upper echelons of the huntsman profession preferred to keep some of the more fantastical discoveries secret. A secret he'd have to keep. A secret he'd have to deal with alone.

But he didn't have to deal with it alone. He had Nora. Whom he just realized looked really beautiful in the morning. She didn't even have makeup!

Wait… wait…. No. _Don't think of her like that. The Pyrrha issue may be over, but it would be REALLY tacky to just start going after Nora. Nope. Nuh-uh. I'm just going to make a fool of myself with some transfer students… maybe like the one I bumped in to yesterday…. Nah… she probably thinks I'm out of her league, which I probably am._

Jaune sighed. If he could just meet someone like Nora. Someone who laughed at his jokes yet called him out on them being terrible. Someone who always looked on the bright side to level his occasional pessimism. Someone who… understood him like no one else had. Not even Pyrrha, in a way.

"Jaune…"

"Yes, Nora."

"You haven't said anything and… you're gripping my shoulder like you want to hug me or something…."

Jaune stopped looking into his thoughts and started looking into the world without them. He was indeed gripping Nora's muscle laced shoulder like he was about to pull her into a romantic embrace of Blake-Book proportions. He immediately let go. Aware of Nora's blush as well as his own.

"I…. uh… was just deep in thought and… your shoulder looked… like your hammer."

Nora walked up to him. Close. "I'm not the only one with bizarre excuses." She lifted a hand delicately and touched his nose with tender force. "Boop." She then turned to the side and started walking towards the cafeteria without him. Jaune followed quickly behind.

"Hey! Jaune! Nora! Sit with us here!" Jaune looked over to see Ruby sitting with that Penny girl from earlier. Oddly enough, while Ruby's tray was expectantly stacked with cookies, it also had a tall stack of apples. Penny had nothing.

"Hello Ruby! Nice to see you again Penny!" Jaune nodded to the girl, who stiffly yet excitedly nodded.

"It's great to improve my friend count! Hey! Look what I can do!" She reached a hand behind Jaune's ear, and then pulled out an apple. She giggled as Jaune softly applauded. _What a weird semblance._ Ruby politely clapped as Penny placed another apple along the wavering yet still intact spire of fruit.

Nora sat next to Jaune. "Hey Ruby! Hey… Penny was it? We didn't fully get to introduce ourselves. I'm NORA!" She cheerfully extended her hand, which Penny jutted out her own limb, grasped her hand that seemed to put Nora in mild pain. _Good, you deserve it for your anaconda hugs._

"It's great to improve my friend count! Hey! Look what I can do!" She then reached behind Nora's ear, and then pulled out an apple.

Jaune gave a sly look to Ruby, who mouthed, _she's been doing that all morning._ He nodded in understanding.

Nora than took the apple from Penny's hand. "That's impressive, yes, but anyone can hide an apple in their sleeve. How many apples can you fit in your mouth?"

"Uh… I have not tried Nora! But I would love to do… how you say it…. A competition?"

"OOoooohhhh, I like it!" Nora sneered, slamming her hands on the table, "you, me, how many apples can we fit in our mouths, I'll be back, I need to get ALL the fruit from the food lady!"

"Oh no…." Jaune and Ruby sighed as they slouched into the table. "I introduced Penny to Nora…." Ruby mumbled, "…what have I done?"

Jaune chuckled, "you created the most dangerous duo in all of Remnant. Make way Grimm, Destruction has a new name."

* * *

She tapped her foot, not that she was dancing. The club was closed. It was a Sunday morning, no one would come here. Unless if it was for things shady and criminal-like. This was the first time Neo was here NOT for such things. At least not things directly criminal.

"So… you're meeting with someone?" The idiotic 'Junior' said. His bouncers were fine, they were just like her with less skill and less maliciousness. She can respect that. Hei Xiong on the other hand was a doofus, with men who reeked of incompetence. His men were stupid, his bouncers were underappreciated, and he fights close quarters combat with a rocket launcher. Who fights close quarters with a damn rocket launcher? Who is THAT stupid? Cinder's ego may be annoying but there was something to be said about being an oaf that only hosted the criminal underworld. He had no place in it outside of serving her drinks.

She didn't drink, though. She needed her head clear. She needed to….

Nora came in with a large, brown trenchcoat, with massive sunglasses, bowler hat, and a costume store goatee on. Neo, before greeting her 'friend,' walked over to the bar, and slammed on the counter-top. A tall shot glass, containing one-third shot vanilla vodka, one-third shot chocolate vodka, and three-thirds shot strawberry vodka, filled up the container. She slammed it all back. She was going to need it.

"Hey Neo! Think this looks 'incognito' enough?" _Oum my Monty, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to… no… not this time. She may need killing, but she's an ally…. Sort of._

She clicked her umbrella and flipped the hat off of her. She gave a stern look. If they were going to get along, Nora was going to have to learn her facial expressions. No writing. All communications purely face to face.

"So… I bought this for you! Here you go!" Nora pulled out her pocket a packet of sticky notes, and a frilly pink pen. "This way, you can just write things! Oh! And if you want, I also have disguises from the store as well, so if you want to be disguise buddies!" She then let out a massive burp. "Sorry! I normally don't do that in public but I just had the most intense apple-mouth-stuffing battle with this transfer student and…."

 _This…. This isn't going to work._ "Sh…. Shut up."

It was only a murmur, but it was enough to silence the entire club. The odd-job henchman and Junior looked up, eyes widened. He dropped a pen to make sure people could hear it. They heard it.

Nora herself seemed still. "You…. you TALKED! THAT'S AWESOME! OHMIGOSH DOES THAT MEAN WE'RE BFFs?"

Neo sighed. "No." She then ripped her stupid facial hair of Nora's face, causing as much pain as she hoped, and then dragged Nora out of the club. She was going to have to talk with her. Fair enough, she didn't know if she had a look for _my boss wants to bang your friend,_ at least not one that anyone but Torchwick could understand. Not that Torchwick could help, he was dealing with the bitch as she… sadly… spoke.

She was going to take her somewhere where she could talk freely without her reputation as a silent menace couldn't be tarnished. She hoped those few people there would keep their mouth shut about it, or else…. And she made sure 'else' was a scary word they didn't hear from her.

Neo took Nora to Tukson's Book Trade. Home of Every Book Under the Sun and a Dead Body. Just how she liked it.

* * *

 **A/N: I was on vacation, so this came out much slower. I'm sorry. Also, the moments you've all been waiting for! Jaune's developing feelings for Nora, and Neo and Nora bonding! I don't know about you, but Neo and Nora teaming up is a fanfic opportunity that sadly doesn't exist… at least I haven't seen it happen.**

 **Speaking of fanfic ideas, Weiss vs. Atlas is nearing its end, which means I'll probably start another fic! Probably a more dramatic one, if I have more than one comedy centered story, I feel my jokes… if you would call what I write jokes…. would be spread too thin. Anyway, it will probably be another Jaune fic. These are fun to write, and they get clicks… and clicks make me feel good. It's science!**

 **Anyway, I don't think I'll do a traditional Jaune ship, though. HOWEVER, not saying I'll follow this advice, but…. Why not? What Jaune ship would you like to see from me?**

 **Jaune X Velvet**

 **Jaune X Coco**

 **Jaune X Emerald**

 **Jaune X Winter**

 **Another Jaune X Nora**

 **Not saying I'll follow through. No promises. However… I have some ideas for some of these. I can imagine after Volume 4 I'll have plenty of material for a dramatic Nora's Arc story, but the others can also work….Once again, no promises. Life has a tendency to happen.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! DON'T drink chocolate vodka! It's disgusting!**


	25. Getting Vetted

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

The warehouse room was dark, shadows consumed all as dust containers were stacked in ominous piles, the massive amounts of energy latent, waiting to be used. All else was a clipboard that people would read, but couldn't, because it was dark, a couple chairs littered in various places, and two people. A crime master and a cun…ning mistress. There was no 't,' Torchwick meant to think 'cunning.'

Couldn't take too many risks, as far as the man knew, Cinder could read minds. That was a possible semblance, right? Reading minds?

Come to think of it, why WAS it called 'reading' minds? You wouldn't 'read' anything, you'd hear it. It should be called mind 'listening.' Yes. That would make more sense.

 _Wait, I should probably return to paying attention, maybe Cinder was saying something useful?_

"…patience may finally be rewarded! As will yours, now that the time towards our victory is almost within our grasp, and we all shall reap the benefits…."

 _No, she's still redundantly monologuing. Of course she is._ Cinder was always particularly annoying to listen to. She talked in long, descriptive sentences, yet somehow he would learn nothing. The same information was recycled into different poetic expressions that yielded absolutely nothing other than the occasional order and… well, that's it. Torchwick, however, knew that while her words were useless and her face was stuck in smirk, there was a power that he would rather avoid confronting. He wasn't a crime lord just by beating the shit out of people, he knew how to pick his battles.

Cinder than gestured towards Torchwick. _Oh no, she said something I have to respond to… uh…._

"As long as Neo and I get our fair share, I'm satisfied."

"Oh, you will be. You'll be reeaally satisfied." Her tongue licked her frozen lips, "Also, speaking of soon-to-be satisfaction… I must thank you for failing to apprehend the Jaune boy."

 _Wait, this? Oh yeah, I gotta deal with this now._ "I swear, these kids are… wait, you're thanking me?"

"Indeed. While at first I wasn't pleased, now… I'm IMMENSELY happy to have him alive." Was Cinder rubbing her legs? Normally she just rubbed her hands! "And he will be of GREAT use to me alive and standing….. erect." Why did she have to word it like that? This was getting weird.

"Uh… Well, I'm glad I can serve you Cinder!" Roman made sure his trademark smile betrayed no fear, but showed no disrespect. "Now, if you excuse me, I am a busy man, acquiring all this dust, and unfortunately Neo requested the day off, so I got to threaten my men myself."

"Well, I'm glad we can have this talk." Cinder's smirk widened slightly, as she stood up, and shook his hand, moving in to a mock hug to a classic kiss-on-the-cheek that was sucked out his soul more and more with every peck. "You shall soon inherit the…." Roman tuned her out.

* * *

"THAT'S A DEAD BODY! Okay!" Nora jumped up, her arms launching towards the ceiling, her hands were indeed in the air because she really, REALLY cared. ON the ground was a faunus man, sloppily slouched on the felt carpet of a humble bookstore. His gaze was dead on the inside AND outside, and was… disturbing. It sent chills down her usually electrified spine "Why did you take me to a place with a dead body? ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ME?" Neo shook her head 'no.' "THEN WHY A VENUE WITH A DEAD BODY? SERIOUSLY?"

"You're a huntress. Deal with it." Neo spoke. It wasn't truly 'talking' at the moment. She used either one word answers or telegraphic sentences. Her usually expressive face was now deadpan, as if the act of even using words drained her, or even depressed her.

Nora didn't really care though. There was a dead person within her eyesight and unless it was a heart attack, it was a murder. A murder Neo was very likely involved in.

"Okay Neo," Nora stomped her foot firmly into the plush carpet, reaching into her pocket, pulling something out "I'm pulling out my scroll right now, and I'm going to call the poli-" the object in her hand was suddenly struck out of her hand by an extended umbrella. Nora, despite fearing the older Arc sister, had limits that she demanded be respected. "You can't SERIOUSLY expect me to be BLASÉ about a dead body, do you? I'm not you!"

Neo silently groaned, and the dead body vanished.

"I don't care if you make it invisible. I'm calling the police, we're leaving, and we're discussing this 'thing' of yours like normal girls who are also trained warriors, in a café, with coffee in our hands, and NO DEAD PEOPLE!"

Neo stared her up, her head craned to face Nora, who, despite Nora's own shortness, was taller than the psychopath. It was still scary though, but Nora was not one to back down.

She then continued staring into Neo's mismatched eyes, which were twitching mildly. _Okay maybe backing down is the right move here… how many times as she hit me and caused immeasurable amounts of pain that even Pyrrha has failed to place upon me in our friendly spars?_

 _Well…. she may be a psychopath… but I'm CRAZY!_ She started twitching her own eyes, the heat of her head exploding forth in facial expressions. The two looked at each other with their best intense glares for a long time, blinking about as much as the faunus corpse. Nora then softly shoved Neo.

Neo flipped up, wrapping her legs around Nora's neck, and grappled her to the ground. As her head made cranial contact with the carpet, Nora took the blow, and grasped her hands around the thin yet firm legs of her attacker.

"I'm not drunk this time!" Nora flipped Neo herself, having the diminuitive girl join her recumbent on the carpet. Nora straddled Neo, and started whipping her hand back and forth, slapping Neo repeatedly in quick succession.

Her hand was caught after the umpteenth slap, and the position changed. Neo was now on top, and now was aggressively slapping her, her arm imitating the world's fastest metronome, the slaps matching a cartoonish tempo.

It continued like that until the constant flipping caused them to exit the building and onto the sidewalk. The streets were bare, but the fresh air caused both women to stop and get off each other, as if it was indecent. They shifted back into a staring contest.

"Here." Neo curtly demanded.

"No, a nice, cutesy café… or anything really… How about an ice cream parlor?"

"I….. HATE…. Ice cream."

"Huh…." Nora shrugged, "…I would've thought…"

"You thought wrong."

Nora readjusted her strategy. "Well… what DO you like?"

Neo didn't say anything as she continued intensifying the clearly dissatisfied face of someone who was trying to quell a desire to kill. Nora had no intention of joining the man in the building.

"Well… this is just great." Nora relinquished her gaze and stared off into the vacant streets of back-alley Vale. "And to think I didn't get any pancakes with breakfast today."

Neo's eyes widened. "I like pancakes."

Nora froze. Her blood wasn't chilled, however. Her heart started racing, and electricity once again flowed through her every pore. "I…. like pancakes too… want to…. go get pancakes?"

"It's…. been a while…." Neo admitted.

"I know a place."

As Nora and Neo walked away, Nora sneakily pulled out his scroll and filed a text-request to the police to investigate a…. she turned around… Tukson's Book Trade.

It was a faunus death, probably to be swept under the rug with a cheeky line about how he didn't get his rabies shots. However, it was probably best for that body to not rot in that store…. Dead bodies are NOT pleasant lying around where they shouldn't be.

And he deserved to be discovered and professionally handled…. Damn, she hated dead bodies, it made it hard to refocus herself to happier thoughts.

She saw that Neo noticed her. "…you have your scroll? I hit it away…."

"I didn't pull out my scroll…" Nora mentally enjoyed the small victory she had over the assassin as they walked together towards one of the best breakfast-all-day places in Vale.

She wasn't going to eat that apple anyway…. She didn't hate the things, but it wasn't her taste, and she had WAY too many to spare after this morning.

* * *

Jaune knocked on Goodwitch's door, making sure she wasn't there. Blake was a faster reader than he thought, and he constantly had to raid Goodwitch's secret... collection. It was consistently stocked, the amount of literature available to their tastes was surprising. There must've been new releases every week!

Or maybe Goodwitch got early access to many publications. It wasn't like she was a nobody with no connections like him.

"I'm in the middle of a good chapter- I mean!- meeting with a student! Please wait outside!" _Shit!_ Well, he could always come back later. Maybe he could polish that homework he completed. Or maybe train a bit! Or possibly go downtown and walk around….

"Blech… how did a pear get in there?.. OH HEY! IT'S THAT GUY RUBY LIKES AND MY WARDEN IS RELATED TOO! HI!" Or maybe he could interact with Ruby's strange…. Wait, did she just say Ruby liked him?

"Uh… hi Penny, how are you doing?" Jaune turned around as the girl whizzed right to him with a smile, continuing to wave awkwardly with a vicious determination to karate chop the air.

"I am doing sensational, thank you for asking! By the way, I DID say Ruby liked you, but only in the way a friend likes someone. I feel I have to always add that disclaimer!"

"Uh… why? I mean, I appreciate the clarification, but…."

"Well, she certainly didn't like it when I used it when referring to Weiss…. Or Port…. But mostly to Weiss, of all things. Something about 'not batting for that team.' I don't get it. Do you care to explain that to me Jaune?"

"Yes, I do care, but in the way where I'll say 'no.'" Were Atlesians this sheltered and clueless? From the way Weiss acted, things had to be very proper, and there was very little room for… baseball analogies in regards to 'preferences,' as well as progression in those preferences.

"I'll ask the good Doctor then… or maybe Father."

"You do that…." Jaune mildly huffed, "so… are you doing anything right now?"

"Only looking around… WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN ME LIKE A FRIEND!"

"I would…. Be okay with that. But where's Ruby?" Jaune thought that the girl was attached to the shorter leader. Indeed, during their breakfast, Penny was determined to recruit Ruby as her bestie that would cheer her on as apples continuously entered the impressive gullet. How Penny talked coherently with all that fruit in her mouth was unknown to him, considering not even someone like Nora was able to. Semblance, maybe?

They started walking down the hallway as Penny started explaining her 'BFFs' absence. "Ruby and Weiss are doing private spars to prepare for the Vytal tournament, and Weiss didn't want me around to 'spy' on them. So… since apparently my 'team' is busy at the moment, I've just been wandering the school without chaperone!" Penny mildly squeed. "I feel so FREE and POWERFUL!" Flames burst out from behind her in a chaotic maelstrom of rock band proportions. A heat wave slapped Jaune in the face as he winced to withstand the heat.

"Oh! Ooops, didn't mean to do that… I'm kinda getting used to it." The flames disappeared as the girl sheepishly blushed akin to when Ruby explodes something, and much unlike when Nora explodes something. Jaune staggered, felt his heart race, but it was nothing too unusual.

"It's… no problem. I'm used to being frightened by random powers that come out of nowhere." Jaune smirked and shrugged. Evil eyes, metal powers, super dogs. The only thing that could freak Jaune out at this point was a horror movie…. He was still a wuss when it came to those.

Penny, still apparently embarrassed by the random fire spurt incident was oddly quiet as they walked down the halls. As much as Penny's speech was…. odd and uncomfortable, Jaune was never a fan of awkward silences.

"So… what's life back in Atlas like?"

"Oh! It's great! Everyone is so nice to me! My father really cares for me and Ironwood and Glass take really good care of me!" Her face shifted from the embarrassment to excitement so quickly Jaune could've SWORN he heard some kind of whirr. "All I need is to make some human friends and everything will be great!" Jaune looked at the girl, an eyebrow raised at the odd implications of such a statement.

"No faunus friends?" He did hear that Atlesians are the least accepting of the race of people. It wasn't her fault for being raised that way, but ambivalence towards that made it part of the problem.

"Oh, yes! Faunus friends are welcome!" Penny continued smiling. "I mean 'human,' including the faunus people. I just used that term to differentiate people from me…..ANIES! Total meanies! That's what I- hic!- meant to say!"

"So… meanies aren't human? That's a little harsh, to be honest." Jaune continued walking, but faced away from Penny as to actually see where he was going, only to promptly look up as if in thought. "Take Cardin for instance. He was a bully… now… he's an acquaintance. I won't be the best man at his wedding, but I wouldn't spit in his food." Jaune chuckled. "To be fair, you don't know what a person is like until you give him or her a chance."

"Oh! I agree full heartedly! I…." Jaune heard Penny sigh, but it sounded weird. It was more like an exhaust pipe releasing excess pressure rather than a windpipe carrying diaphragm forced air. "I…. I just want people to give me a chance is all… y'know…. but they say people won't give me a chance."

What is it with people opening up to him? He just met this girl yesterday. Well, a friend is a stranger you haven't met yet, and an ally is a friend you haven't helped yet. "Who's 'they?'"

"Father, mostly. Not that he thinks low of me… he's just worried, because I'm difffff… NOT different! I'm just – _hic!_ \- so ordinary! Nothing diff- _hic!_ -erent about me! I am a duplicate snowflake!"

"You need some water? That hiccup spell sounds really bad." Jaune pulled out a water bottle, always on hand just in case he had to run for his life or have a surprise duel with Port. Those happened surprisingly often.

"MY WATERPROOFING IS UNDER MAINTENANCE RIGHT NOW!" Penny shrieked as she hopped away from the bottle. She then stopped, raised her hand to her mouth, and whimpered.

"…water…proofing?" The oblivious and awkward way of speaking. The odd sound effects. The fact she is accompanied by the most respected researcher in Atlas. It finally all made sense, she was a…..

"Okay I admit it, I'M A ROBOT!" Penny kneeled down and cried into her hands…. Except no tears came. She literally couldn't cry. She could wail though. "I'M NOT REAL! I'M A CONSTRUCT!"

 _Huh. I was thinking biomedical clone. Robot makes sense too._

Jaune looked around to see that no one was around. Typical Sunday, everyone is asleep or training or just nowhere near wherever they are. He walked up and offered his hand.

"Hey, it's okay…. I… won't tell a soul." First thing you do with psychotically breaking down girls, tell them what they want to hear. It's how she dealt with Pistachia's tantrums. The girl looked up, face dry from the lack of tears.

"Really? But… but wouldn't you be like…. Popular for pointing me out and saying 'oh look! Atlas is trying to sneak a robot in the Vytal Festival!'"

"To tell you the truth, I know a thing or two about sneaking things in that aren't supposed to be there… it's fine." Jaune smiled as he kept his hand extended. Penny looked at the hand, visibly confused, but then grasped it with the clutches of a vice and rose up to meet Jaune in a hug that felt like two busses colliding to either side of him.

Yep. Penny's hugs were indeed the worst.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Somehow, the grip's strength increased.

Jaune struggled. This was normal: start with a conversation, things escalate, he almost dies. His Mom made more sense every day…. Still kept on though, it's what he wanted to do.

"I'm…. glad…. You… can let gooooo" the last part of his word transformed into a soundless trickle of air as Jaune's vision started to cloud.

"Oh! Sorry!" Penny let go, as Jaune collapsed at the floor. All he could be fully aware of was his breathing, letting air come in as frantic yet as calm as necessary. He let oxygen coat his insides.

He needed to get Nora, Mom, and now Penny on the same team. They could win through the power of love… or the intention of love, at least. Damn hugs.

"Here! Let me make it up to you for offering my own hand!" Jaune looked up to see Penny's hand extended. He took it, and was immediately thrown into the ceiling.

"Oops… too hard."

Jaune, stuck to the ceiling for a good ten seconds, wallowed in discomfort as he eventually peeled off by aid of gravity. He plopped onto the ground. Penny offered her hand again.

"I… I got this covered." Aura was nice in terms of sustaining no injuries, but it didn't stop pain… or the humiliation. He groaned as he creaked upright, and made sure his bones were set into a proper standing position. "So… what I was going to say was…. I know what it's like needing people to give you a chance, and I was so incredibly lucky that people did, so…." Jaune smiled while scratching the back of his neck, "I guess I'll pay it forward and give you a chance as well. Just…. Don't do that again."

"Sorry, I'll also be careful not to burn you with my mystical powers."

Jaune felt his heart freeze, as his body tensed up. "mystical….. powers?"

"Oops! I mean… I don't- _hic!_ \- have mystical powers!"

"You hiccup when you lie."

"I- _hic!_ -don't!"

 _That girl, the one that accompanied me… she's part of this._ That's what Dr. Glass said, wasn't it?

Just because he learned to tolerate ridiculous crap, didn't mean he enjoyed it!

* * *

"Ruby, I understand your weapon is practically thrice the length of your body, but you shouldn't be holding it like that!" Weiss, using Myrtenaster as a lecture stick, used it to reorient Ruby's limbs into positions her leader clearly were not used to.

"Uhg, Weiss…." Ruby pouted and groaned, "…my arms are getting tired holding these poses for so long."

"Look, Ruby, I understand that you are more than capable of being a good fighter, we're working on you becoming a GREAT fighter, which means working on some details that make ALL the difference."

"Uhhhg, Qrow never said I'd have to stress this stuff….."

"I really feel like I need to talk to your uncle about proper form." Weiss didn't know much about Ruby's family, which was odd considering she always talked about them much more often than she talked of hers and Blake talked of…. well…. WHATEVER she was raised in. Still, all she fully know was 'Qrow is the Greatest.' And 'Dad is the Greatest.' While Weiss was very aware that Ruby didn't take to grammar or logic too seriously, thus the impossibility of both being '-est' didn't bother her, it was more that Weiss refused to imagine anyone being 'the greatest' begetting an admittedly good fighter, but… so… undisciplined.

Ruby laughed, hard enough to release the pose she was trying to instill onto her leader as she slacked down. After that, she straightened up and pointed at Weiss, "that would be his response."

"Well, that doesn't have to be yours, now get back into position, it's best you get used to it now so you have the INSTINCT to revert to these advantageous stances. So we're going to hold it for around…. Ten to fifteen minutes? Does that sound fair?"

"Noooooooooo" Ruby's silver eyes pleadingly looked into Weiss's.

As if Winter would fall for that trick. "Then twenty minutes. Start now."

"Woof!" Zwei cheered her on… as least Weiss imagined it to be so. She brought the dog along as moral support… for herself. Forcing Ruby to do anything was an ordeal in patience and physical endurance. Mostly patience, but there was always the….

 _WOOSH!_

….attempts to escape. Damn speed semblance.

"Woof!"

Weiss looked down at the dog. "You have any idea where Ruby went?"

"Woof?"

"Better than nothing."

They walked down the hallway, following a trail of slowly dissipating rose petals. They didn't stay for long, but they were a trail if Weiss could move fast enough. She darted down the halls, careful not to go too fast as to get in trouble. Also, she didn't want to collide into anyone. No touchy!

"Weiss! I thought your father taught you better than that!" Weiss's feet anchored into the ground, aided by Glyph, at the mention of Father. Chills went down her spine, memories clouded her mind…. Zwei licked her hand. Good Zwei. Be a good boy.

"Woops….." A mild apologetic voice emerged from the snarky tone that preceded it. Weiss turned around to see the diminutive Professor Pluto Glass standing across the hallway. "Shouldn't have said that, shouldn't I? Also, I see it in your face. It's Doctor, not Professor."

"Wait… what? I mean… I'm… sorry sir." The man walked up to her, one arm akimbo while the other was in a pocket. "Have you seen my partner Ruby, she's…. well…. she's running away from her responsibilities as a leader!"

"I'm assuming that was the red blur…. I was actually looking for her. I lost track of Penny and I was hoping to…. well well well…." The man knelt down to the dog, patting his head "what do we have here… Zwei, right?"

"Oh, it's okay, Ozpin has given approval and… wait…. How do you know?..."

"It's on his collar, Weiss."

"Oh." Weiss blushed at the obvious answer, stupid that she should question a prof-

"Doctor!"

"Really! Last time I checked your semblance wasn't Telepathy!"

"If it was, I'd have made less mistakes in regards to people…. No, but there's a certain look when someone says 'professor,' and its similar to when someone thinks, or is about to think it."

"I understand you're a renowned scientist Pr-Doctor! But I highly doubt that…."

"Woof!"

"See! The dog agrees with me!" Weiss crossed her arms in triumph. From what he heard from her father, he hated this specific official, so he didn't feel TOO ashamed to question his authority.

The doctor tisked, but didn't turn his gaze towards Weiss. He was focused on the dog, and Glass's petting was turning…. Aggressive? He put his hands in Zwei's mouth, prying it open to look at his teeth, his bespectacled eyes getting in close to the muzzle. He moved his hands, massaging the pawed feet. He poked the nose. He grasped the entirety of the dog's body and lifted it up, and looked at the belly and back up in the air.

"Woof!"

"Uh…. Docfessor…Protor…. DOCTOR!... What are you doing?"

The man looked at Weiss, his eyes slightly above her own eye level. Within the oculi Weiss saw the churning of a man whose mind went too fast. "I'm giving an express physical to the dog, of course! I can imagine it hasn't seen a proper vet ever since it started living here in Beacon!"

Weiss… well…. she could accept that. She doubted the dog had even SEEN a proper vet EVER at the Xiao-Long/Rose household. Didn't mean she should tolerate the older man's prying, partly because, despite having a PhD, she doubted that Glass was a proper vet himself.

What was going on with this dog? It was behaving admittedly strangely, drawing itself towards the memorial on occasion. It's sojourns with Jaune and Nora. Its presence in Mulan. And now an esteemed scientist was giving an 'express phyical' before her very eyes. What on Remnant could…. wait… maybe.

"Hmmm…. Seems like he could use a couple vaccinations! I see traces of…. stuff…. Can I borrow this pooch for a while? It won't be long!"

"Actually…." Weiss crossed her arms. "I have some questions about this dog… things have been…. Funny, recently."

A bead of sweat fell from the temple of the Proctoressor. "Like… ha ha funny or…. Not funny funny?…."

"Well….." Weiss was about to make her first point until something collided with her with the force of a cartwheeling hippopotamus wearing a red riding hood cloak.

"Sorry! I was just running away from- WEISS!" Ruby shrieked as she hopped up from her partner and started sweating. "I'M SORRY! I JUST DON'T LIKE PRACTICING LIKE YOU PLEASE FORGIVE ME!" Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss, who felt stifled in the same way that Nora could…. In theory. Nora never hugged her….

"Well…. I'm going to give Zwei here a professional check-up! He'll be back by tonight! Don't worry! I'm a professional!" The doctor…. HAH! Remembered it…. Slunk away, holding the dog, much to the mutt's… protests? Excitement? She couldn't tell the nature of the barks from the distance or from the fact that not enough air was reaching her brain.

Ruby let Weiss go. "Wait…. Why is that Atlesian guy taking my dog?"

"Something about giving it a veterinary check-up…." Weiss paused to get more air, "…but I don't think that's it."

Ruby than smirked, "you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That we're going to skip training to do some stupid spying?"

"….Yeah that's what I was thinking."

Weiss sighed. Ruby was great, but she was still two years younger and had the attention span of a gnat on a sugar high. "Well…. I can get behind that…"

"Yay!" Ruby hugged Weiss again. The closeness to her was not unwelcome. It was rather enjoyable, the way their small frames pressed.…. Weiss realized they weren't the only ones in the hallway.

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS LOOKING AT?"

* * *

The pancakes were thick, fluffy, and doused with sugary goodness. Neo valued herself a woman beyond such trivial things such as reliance upon sensation based desires. The thrill of good sex was beneath her. The pressure of a deep massage was unnecessary. Webflicks was over-priced and she didn't bother pirating trivial entertainment online. And definitely not the near orgasmic pleasure from a good meal. All she needed was sustenance and the occasional blast of raw alcohol.

But…. Pancakes. Damn them and syrup too. Her cakes were decorated with a swirl of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry syrup.

She had a weakness, and Nora had discovered it… and she had the same weakness too.

Oum forbid they bond over this fact.

No. No bonding. It's business, pure and simple. She simply needed Nora to twat-block Cinder: do the things too dangerous for her to even consider doing, and since Nora was a student of Beacon, and a well-known student from what she could tell, Cinder couldn't off her easily without stirring controversy before it was necessary. Indeed, if Neo did the same Cinder could kill her without a thought, she barely existed, and it could easily be written off as 'she wandered off again' and this time got herself killed.

But Nora… Nora would last longer than her on the fact that killing her would be noticeable. And Neo was NOT going to disguise herself as Nora and fake being her…. No. She could fake being Pyrrha, maybe, but Nora…. THAT is impossible.

"Next time we come here, we are DEFINITELY trying the waffles! I mean… I'm not a waffle girl but I feel that fellow pancake girls should like… live dangerously together, y'know? So…."

"We are not…. Pancake girls." Just the fact she opened her mouth and said something so insipid made her want to kill someone…. Okay, she always wanted to kill someone. Made her want to MAIM before killing someone… yes, she didn't ALWAYS feel like doing that.

"Well, then let's cut to the chase, Neo. What do you need me for, and it BETTER not be for… well…. you know!"

Neo sighed. "Someone I don't like wants to fuck Jaune."

The clatter of silverware, the intake of breath, the silence following. The café was loud and boisterous, but even Neo picked up the cues amidst the aural pandemonium. It was fine, though, they were camouflaged. To each other they looked as normal, but to the outside observer, Neo was an red-headed hottie showing more cleavage than shirt, and Nora was a dorky guy with thick glasses and a minor beer gut. For it to make sense 'Nora' was dressed nicely. Neo would rather be the trophy than the doof who 'won' it.

So the casual observer would just assume that Neo propositioned Nora for sex…. It sent chills down Neo's spine to think of it like that, but as an illusionist, the observer can think anything but it's usually wrong.

"….Uh… why are you telling me this? I mean… it's not like I… like like your brother or anything! I mean… what if… what if… this woman makes him happy. I mean… your approval isn't important! Jaune can love anyone he wants!"

Neo stayed silent, keeping her visage deadpan. "Woman is worse than me. Killed more than me. Probably will use Jaune as tool." Not really…. Cinder just wanted to 'bang chugga wang-wang' as Dad would… no… don't bring _Noah_ into this.

"Hmmm….. what does she look like? What should I do? What DO I do?"

That was the question, wasn't it? What could someone like Nora could do to possibly hamper someone as grossly determined as Cinder? "She dresses like a high-class prostitute, and has eyes like fire. She's more leg than head. Talks like a porn voice had sex with a snake's slither. As for what you do? Keep an eye on Jaune, and twat block. Considering your… talents… I assume you can think of something." Good, place all the planning on this on her. Keep herself withdrawn from it. Not involved.

Neo liked Cinder's plan. She really did. But… she had two caveats. Don't kill Jaune. And don't fuck Jaune. Was that too much to ask?

"Good talk." Neo hated using that phrase, "we should finish up. You need to get back to school ASAP to start keeping an eye on him."

"…why do you keep making her sound like an evil mastermind?"

"Because she thinks she is."

* * *

Jaune walked alongside Penny, just talking. It was nice, to be honest. Not as great as his talks with Nora and Pyrrha, due to her awkward nature, but it was nice.

She didn't delve into the mystical powers, much to Jaune's relief. The less he knew about it, the less it existed… right?

"Well, it was nice conversing with you Jaune! I must admit, I enjoyed it very much!"

"I'm glad I could show you around Beacon, Penny, just…. Don't punch me into the ceiling ever again, okay?"

"I'll be sure not to try! By the way… there's a dance before the festival, right?"

"Uh… yeah…."

The girl leaned in and excitedly whispered, "if you aren't taken, I would LOVE to accompany you to it!" The girl hopped up excitedly. "Bye Jaune!" And she scuttled away in a rigid skip.

Jaune groaned, "you know, you can tell your sex appeal is great when it attracts a robot and a lonesome celebrity…." She chuckled to himself, "well, I better get started on…."

"You clearly are quite the ladies' man, Mr. Arc… how long was that, an hour or two? And already she wants to invite you to the dance month in advance. That is quite the talent… Jaune." The named boy turned around to see the woman from yesterday, her legs as milky as ever, and hips as curvy as ever. She shook said hips as she walked forward, a gust of hormone exciting perfume entered his nostrils, smelling wonderful and…. exciting. The clacking of the heels on the solid floor was like a bodacious metronome demanding proper tempo from his racing heart.

"Uh…. well…. I mean…. All you need is coffee breath… I MEAN confidence! Yeah…. Confidence…." Jaune then realized something, "how do you know my name?"

"I was wondering who you are… had to ask around… couldn't face you again until I knew who I was dealing with….. and when I heard you were an Arc it made so much sense." She now stood right up to him, her legs threatening to grace his hips. Her nose was practically mere inches from his lips, and her eyes seemed to extend past their corporeal location to bore into his head.

"What… ah… .what… do you ellipses mean?" Jaune cursed himself internally. Did he really have to vocally express the damn punctuation taking place in his head.

"I heard Arcs were BIG ladies men…." She then leaned her head in, her tongue ghostly stroking his ear… "big in more ways than one. Kindness, heart, skill, and…. of course I don't need to explain the last." Her voice was like saliva, dripping, viscous… yet capturing. It would've been gross if it weren't so…. So….

"Well, who are you and what are you known for?" Jaune whispered back, failing to be anything but standing rigid.

"I'm Cinder… and I get what I want."

 _I'll show off your corpse when I'm done with you, and Cinder will reward me handsomely!_ Adam's voice suddenly returned to Jaune's head. He remembered the moment vividly, committing that quote to memory just in case that name came up again.

He did NOT expect that name to come up like… well….. how he came down: sudden and ruinous to the mood.

Her hands snaked around and put her hand on his chest. "Shall I introduce you to… the rest of me?"

"M…m….aybe some other time! Yep Exclamation Point I have things to do Comma but how about we exchange phone numbers Question mark At a later time because I'm clearly… not talking right." Jaune had to get out, he….

"Sure…. I understand, shouldn't rush forward. But don't worry…." Despite him backing away, Cinder somehow slithered behind him and whispered once more into his ear, "…I already have your scroll number." She then sashayed away.

Jaune stood there, needing a cold shower for obvious reasons and a hot bath to stop the chills.

To think, it would be the attention of women that would make Jaune want to run back to his mother more than the creatures of Grimm.

* * *

"You were trying to contact me, what do you need?" Salem was easily annoyed by her human subjects, but they provided results that made dealing with their mortal-based stupidity bearable. Cinder was the most obnoxious but also held the most promise.

"Don't worry, I got it under control. I have a plan that will make EVERYTHING easier… trust me… I will not only inherit the powers of maiden… I will inherit the powers of beasthood."

Salem sighed, "it doesn't work like that Cinder, you can't just Parasite the Beast…."

"No… but can I Parasite the power from one of the trainers?"

"Only if you link yourself properly to the other… what…." Salem had a feeling she would get an interdimensional migraine if she was in another dimension like people believed. She wasn't, but she wasn't going to prove anyone wrong. "… what are you doing?"

"Don't worry, my Queen. All will be revealed…."

"YOU DON'T REVEAL THINGS TO ME, YOU INFORM ME ON EVERYTHING!"

"It will be worth it… I just need more time…" Cinder hung up. Of ALL the times she WANTED Cinder to shut up and be less descriptive, she now was doing things secretly.

Salem groaned. It didn't matter, she not only had the Dragon lying in wait, she also had her most dangerous creature: outside of herself, obviously.

It was a beautiful creature, using things that many Huntsmen would better not face. They feared giant monsters, but they feared one thing more: the reality of their own mortality.

And only seeing their own mortality incarnated could truly make them feel that.

It was time to unleash the Memorial….. Okay, no it wasn't, but it was time to PREPARE the Memorial.

* * *

 **A/N: Wow! I got a LOT, a LOT of responses for proposing the ship for my next fic, and the results surprised me.**

 **I won't tell them here, but you just need to skim my reviews to figure it out. As I said, I will NOT pick the winner by default, it was just a way to see what kinds of stories people were interested in seeing me do.**

 **I want to try Jaune X Velvet or Coco because the majority of them are fluff. Fluff is great and all, but it'd be interesting to see those ships in a more dramatic, with an overarching plot that ISN'T the romance, incorporated. As for Jaune X Emerald, THAT to me seems like an… interesting… ship to do, because to make that ship work, you got to redeem Emerald or corrupt Jaune. If I do pick this ship, it will be the former. Jaune X Winter would by definition be an incredibly awkward ship to do. Age-gap, knowing the sister first, and… well, you could imagine.**

 **It's sort of what I'm doing with this story, at least attempting. Jaune X Nora is only done in short what-if one-offs or cutesy stories that are more slice of life. Agreed, the plot in this story is admittedly stupid and fan-ficky, but… with many authors giving the Jaune X PRWBY ships stories that are epic and story based, I thought Jaune X Nora needed one. Just a story as silly yet heart-felt as Nora is.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Convert a serial murderer with PANCAKES!**


	26. Checking for Re-fur-ence

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

"So….. one of the exchange students. Someone from Mistral. Named…. Cinder…."

"Yes."

"A name you recognize Adam Taurus, incarcerated leader of the White Fang, mentioned off-handedly during your confrontation."

"Yes."

"….just solicited you for sex." Glynda Goodwitch was always a hard person to read. Her stare was hard and cold, her voice was firm and steady.

However, with the twitching of one eye, and the quivering of her lips…. She was either thinking of a scene from her novels, or she was incredibly frustrated at something. Jaune could not care which one of those was correct, he only cared about whether Goodwitch believed her or not.

"Yes."

Goodwitch sighed and thrust her head into her desk, eliciting a loud _SLAM!_ that reverberated the entire office. "You have got to be kidding me." She started heavily breathing into the rich mahogany of her workspace. It went on for a good four minutes and thirty seven seconds.

"Professor Goodwitch?…"

No response.

"….Glynda?..."

Still no response.

"…Ma'am?"

"Why!" Glynda's face rocketed up, her face red and her breath heaving, "Does this," she stared at Jaune, "kind of shit," she pointed a finger, "happen to you! Of all people!"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, Ozpin goes on and on about how someone as incompetent as you is something fresh and new to the average huntress student! That you are the master of ships, that every single available female on this campus could theoretically be paired up, with YOU! INCLUDING ME!" She then pointed two fingers. "THEN! A frickin' DOG bonds with you, latching YOUR destiny to the fate of the world, and now, someone we could suspect as being one of the most nefarious beings on all of Vytal is now ATTRACTED to YOU?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "uh…. shouldn't we be focusing on?..."

"There WILL BE TIME! With people who are much more qualified than YOU, Mr. Arc, but until then, you ARE TO BEHAVE YOURSELF AND THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS TO MY ATTENTION! YOU ARE EXCUSED! I NEED TO FIND A PILLOW TO SCREAM INTO!"

"Wait… people ship me with you?"

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

The door slammed in Jaune's face the instant he walked out. "I…. really need to ask what Ozpin does in his free time." He sighed and lightly chuckled, but it was almost out of fear. Not from Goodwitch, but from the threats that seem to be closing in on him. Through his own soft laughter, however, he heard the clunking footsteps of heavy and large shoes, accompanied by a much more derisive and defined snicker, echoing a small distance in the acoustic halls.

"Yikes, what did you do?" Jaune turned around to see Cardin walking grandiosely. Jaune later learned he wasn't _trying_ to look like a tool, but it was the fact his armor was hard to walk around, and thus the man had to sway his arms around like two fat pendulums swaying their phallic forms... Jaune _may_ have peaked into the books he lent to Blake. He had to do SOME kind of quality control, right?

"Nothing to concern yourself with, nothing to expose me, thank Oum." Cardin knew his secret, he couldn't pretend he didn't know. However, Cardin had yet to rat him out despite his servitude ending long ago, when he inexplicably saved him from an Ursa… okay, it was explicable, Pyrrha moved his shield. Because she had a crush on him at the time…. And probably still has an inkling of one. Along with a robot, and possibly someone incredibly dangerous.

Maybe Goodwitch had a point.

"Good! You know, I'd kinda miss you if you left, we are best buds after all…."

"We're acquaintances Cardin." Jaune deadpanned.

"Why don't you just accept my feelings?!" Cardin's eyes widened, as he regained composure, and coughed into his hands, "I mean, why don't you just accept my token of friendship?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "I rescued you from a hostage situation, which resulted in me fighting one of the most dangerous criminals in the world which I only survived because my semblance acted as Macguffin. I don't need to accept anything as I've already proved we're on fine terms."

"Well, yeah, but what about taking that _next_ step, like…." Cardin's eyes slanted upward to the ceiling, visibly searching his brain for the words to express his probably dull thoughts, "…a mentor mentee relationship."

"I don't want to learn anything from you Cardin. I have enough mentors already….."

"….I meant you helping me…." Cardin's voice shifted to a sullen whisper, as his fists clenched tightly at his sides. Jaune himself felt silence creep into him, as he looked up as the man's usually cocky grin was replaced with a regretful frown, wrought with angst-ridden despair.

"What do you mean…. Me? Helping-"

Jaune was stopped as Cardin knelt down on his knees, and pulled the plated hoodie into his face, as the grown man mildly bawled. "Uh… Cardin… Cardin!" Jaune had trouble trying to tear the warrior off of him, due to the fact that, regardless of improvement, Cardin was still stronger and heavier than he ever could be. "Would you like to tell me where the heck this is coming from?"

"I've had no luck with the ladies since I got here, none! While you…" Cardin sniffled, "…you have had ALL the luck! ALL of it!"

Jaune chuckled as he freed one of his hands to, as per usual, scratch the back of his head. "I wouldn't say it's ENTIRELY luck…."

"TWO women have propositioned you for the dance MONTHS in advance! MONTHS! You are a prize! The one who TURNED DOWN Pyrrha Nikos!"

"….do people really know about that?"

"You have BOTH the women on your team crushing on you…"

"I mean…. The situation with Pyrrha was…. wait BOTH?"

"All the members in my team wish I was LIKE you…"

"I highly doubt that." Jaune remembered all the times he hung out with CRDL.

"You're probably bigger than me…"

"No, you're much taller and…. oh. WAIT WHY WOULD YOU GUESS THAT?"

"None of the girls are impressed when I send them pictures…"

"Pictures of what? You? Me? Your…. CARDIN WHAT THE HELL BROUGHT THIS ON?"

"Because you already have, like, four options for the dance months ahead of time…. And I have Noooonnnneeeee…." Cardin continued weeping into his chest.

There were many situations that Jaune had been internally preparing for. Confronting his full family about his conviction to be a huntsman, hopefully now with Mom's support. Admitting to the people of Team RWBY than his transcripts were fake, even though it could be easily surmised. Facing of another Class M Grimm because that seems to be the pattern his life takes when he walks three feet outside the confines of Vale.

Robots flirting with him. Cinder trying to seduce him. Goodwitch losing her mind. And now Cardin unleashing out-of-the-blue inferiority issues towards HIM because of his 'luck-with-the-ladies,' was NOT among those many situations Jaune was prepared for.

Also…. BOTH the women on his team crushing on him… as in… also Nora?

Probably just the rumors. He was lucky the dog had not been attributed to any of it, otherwise they would have Yang to deal with, as well as the now snooping Ruby and Weiss.

Hopefully Goodwitch never ran out of material, or he'd be doomed. His lie hangs in the balance between him and a young adult's unending hunger for saucy fictional romance: the term being quite literal in "Taking the Heat and Getting into the Kitchen."

"….and, when I tried to talk to Yang when she was in a towel, she punched my nuts. My beautiful, beautiful nuts! And they are beautiful, no matter what they say!" Jaune was about to attempt to comfort him as well as demand to be released until a bubbly voice from Oum's domain instead came to the rescue

"Cardin! What are you doing?" As if the herald of Monty himself blew trumpets, Nora arrived, Magnhild primed and at the ready. "Are you bullying Jaune again? Because if you are I WILL upload those pictures onto the school public forum, so help me Oum!"

"No! I'm not…. I'm just…" Cardin let go of Jaune and started dusting himself off, his voice somehow returning to its usually smug timbre, "….having a heart to heart with my best…. Acquaintance." Nora put her arms akimbo, Magnhild casually grasped in one hand, "…and, I was going to leave."

Nora looked at Jaune, who just shrugged and nodded. No one's legs needed breaking or… photos leaked. Jaune motioned at Cardin to fulfill his word and leave. Cardin thankfully did. Nora walked up to him, rubbing her neck and cracking her back. Her eyes winced in mild pain she was hiding earlier.

"Yeesh, what happened to you?... Also, pictures?"

Nora smirked and snorted "My waiter accidentally switched my bill with someone else in the restaurant. Let's just say I ate WAY more pancakes and thus had a larger bill. She wasn't too pleased…"

"And you just took it? Also, you went for pancakes without the team!" That made no sense. Nora NEVER went to eat in Vale alone. Even if not a team exercise, usually Ren was dragged along.

"A lot has been on my mind and…. maybe I like some alone time too, y'know? And that place makes such GOOD pancakes, great place for a thought, and it would've been a shame to damage it in a scuffle…." Nora's trademark grin returned, albeit a bit forced. Jaune decided it was best not to press the issue.

 _Of course! I'm constantly thinking about the situations stressing me out, but failing in considering how Nora is coping of them! Damn… am I really a…_ No, he wasn't going to do that. He'd done enough self-deprecating self-doubt over the years, he didn't need to start that now, not with the weirdest of the day behind him. He only had to make sure that Nora was okay.

"Are you okay?" It was always best to be direct with Nora.

"Oh, I'm fine! How are you, you look like you've seen multiple ghosts today!"

"Well…." Jaune was about to explain it all, in a public hallway, before he was thankfully interrupted by the buzzing of a scroll. He pulled it up to answer the call.

 _"Hey Jaune! It's Dr. Glass, y'know, the old dude with a bowtie?"_

"Yeah….. what do you want sir?" The leader of JNPR silently groaned. _This nutcase, of course._ Clearly this was about his desired experimentation of Zwei, which Jaune only went along with because he didn't know how to stop an Atlesian professor from doing what he wanted. Jaune felt Nora peer over his shoulder, her breath right next to his ear, it was almost exciting…. _Okay, no! Stop those thoughts too!_

 _"Good, and I see that Nora is with you as well. How convenient! Please meet me in the vault in your soonest convenience, preferably in the 'no later than a couple seconds variety.' You don't have classes, and homework is over-rated…"_

"Aren't you a teacher yourself?"

 _"Correction: any homework not assigned by me is over-rated."_

"I honestly rate homework pretty low…" Nora observed.

 _"Good! Now get here, NOW! I don't know how long I can keep the charade of sending Zwei to a veterinarian."_

Nora and Jaune looked at each other, Nora mouthing a _what?_ Jaune mouthed he would explain later. This wasn't going to be fun.

As they left to join the moderately enigmatic doctor, two mismatched eyes, under the veil of 'Lacey Mint' from Team CMLE, (Chamomile) made sure that Jaune hadn't been fully seduced while she was distracted by her secret weapon.

* * *

They rode up the elevator. They rode down the elevator. They got off the elevator. They got back on the elevator. They scavenged the elevator, looking for secret paths. They pressed a bunch of buttons, hoping to stumble across a secret code.

They spent an hour of their lives messing with this elevator. An hour they could've spent doing almost anything else. But they didn't. And for the hour to come, they wouldn't. At least _she_ wouldn't, Weiss could leave if she wanted to.

Ruby had a feeling that the strange doctor didn't want to do anything bad to the dog, the same way she knew Jaune didn't have any desire to harm her favorite dog either, but there was something she wanted to know. Something she felt she deserved to know.

Jaune and Nora teleporting to Mulan with Zwei, and the dog possibly being present when Goodwitch took down a Slaggeater to save Jaune and Nora, at least according to the news reports on the incident or from Pyrrha's freely given testimony. Now an Atlesian scientist, one that Weiss seemed to have respect for in that 'he's famous' sense, seemed to want to take her dog to a veterinarian. By going into an elevator, and then disappearing entirely.

They checked every floor that they could access with that thing. The only one they couldn't check was Ozpin's office.

"He MUST be there, we just need to find a way to gain access to that floor!" Ruby was tempted to make Pyrrha use her powers to FORCE the elevator to do her bidding, but that would get her in trouble…. And, unlike her, Pyrrha had the press to hound her for any break in conduct during her stay at Beacon.

"Ruby, we could get in serious trouble breaking into Ozpin's office! Besides, it's not like I can make a stream of glyphs along the outer walls of the tower, allowing you to run up!"

"But you COULD!"

Weiss sighed, being both the appreciated yet annoying voice of reason. "Look, how about we set on an appointment with Ozpin, and we could ask him?"

Ruby stared at Weiss, her eyelids too heavy to even give a fake look of belief, "do you want to hear vague riddles Weiss?"

"Point taken," slanted her head, placing her hands on her hips, "but it's best we don't get in actual trouble with the school trying to find answers. Getting in trouble with criminals I can tolerate, but the actual school?" She shook her head emphatically, "no. If I get expelled, my reputation will be ruined AND I'd have to go home. Especially if it's to spy on a respected…" Weiss suddenly jerked her head down, connecting her chin with her hand, "okay, maybe not so respected, but nevertheless an Atlesian O.C."

"O.C?"

"Official Commander. He's an Official in the school, but also holds minor militaristic influence, thus is also a Commander."

"Huh." Ruby nodded her head as if of approval of something, "thank you for explaining that, even though I didn't really need to know that."

"If I'm ever taking you to Atlas, you're going to need to learn a lot of Atlesian acronyms."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's Ocean Transportation Pods, or O.T.P: A vehicular unit that fits two people snugly, but is very fast and takes people to various locals throughout the kingdom by sea or river."

"So it's like a small, intimate ship?"

"To be so simply put yes, but it's the best kind of 'ship' there is!"

They got off the elevator, resting it on the base floor. Ruby was almost ready to accept defeat until….

"Hey Ruby, hey Weiss, how's it going?" Jaune's peppy yet slightly cracking voice was just what Ruby wanted to hear… a possible lead. The connection to Jaune and Zwei, the assumed connection between Zwei and Doctor Lame-Name: could she, by the transitive property, connect the Atlesian Professor and the leader of team JNPR?

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby rushed up to the taller man, smiling all the while. Nora was also with him, bearing her signature grin which could consume a kaiju. "Soo…. Are you going to ride that elevator?"

"Uh, yeah, Nora and I were going to call…. Mom. Or I was…. Nora was going to tag along." Jaune casually motioned to Nora, who waved that cordial wave. The wave that was so common, and the awkwardness that was so common.

But Ruby saw through their tricks.

"Mind if we tag along then, I've always wanted to meet your Mom!" Ruby piped up, plastering her most excitable face. It was easy. She genuinely wanted to meet Jaune's Mom. Apparently she made good cookies. But she knew that wasn't in her future.

"Yes, I myself would also love to meet the matriarch of the Arc family!" Weiss moved up to stand next to her seemed to be in on it as well! Excellent! "I can only imagine her as dignified as the name itself…. Wait. Where did you get your personality from?"

Jaune chuckled. "Well, I'm sure Mom would love to meet you all, but we can't because…. Because…" Jaune looked helplessly at Nora. _Yes, it's working. It's working so well!_

"Because….. we need our Private Elevator Time!" Nora pointed her hand in the air, jumping slightly off the ground. Ruby stared. She did not expect that response.

"Private… Elevator… Time?" Weiss crossed her arms. "Why would you two need Private Elevator Time?"

"RUBY'S NOT OLD ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND WHAT JAUNE AND I DO ALONE IN AN ELEVATOR!" Nora screamed as she grabbed the tomato-faced Jaune and ran into the elevator in a blur. Ruby and Weiss were too busy being agog at Nora's response to pursue, only realizing they had just been juked when the elevator doors closed.

"The… the nerve! It's inappropriate! It's immature! It's… it's in an ELEVATOR! What can you possibly do of note in an ELEVATOR!" Weiss ranted until she noticed that Ruby was still spaced out. She was looking at the closed doors, unaware of all that was except for Weiss's outburst, those doors, and the hidden meaning in Nora's words.

Private Elevator Time.

"It's CONFIRMED!" Ruby jumped up, her shrill voice of determination making Weiss practically lose footing. "It's a code, Nora was telling us they were going to Zwei!"

"….what?"

"Private Elevator Time Weiss! You're the one who told me to be aware of acronyms." Ruby started pacing around in frenetic blasts of rose petals. "Nora you either helping us or leading us to your dirty little secret…"

"Uh…." Weiss started walking forward, offering a hand in concern, "…Ruby? Did you eat cookies when I wasn't looking again?"

"Private Elevator Time!" Ruby waved her hands, "P.E.T! Pet! They're going to my pet!"

"…." Weiss had no words.

* * *

When the doors closed, Nora hurriedly whispered to Jaune. "As someone who used it at the orphanage, shock goes a long way in getting people off your case." She didn't mean to bring her lips so close to the man's ear, to let her voice caress the ear drums and haunt his brain.

"Y-yeah…I….I gathered." Jaune stuttered like a middle schooler discovering puberty and accidentally walking into the girl's bathroom in the middle of a lesbian make-out session. "J-Just…. WARN me if you… you're going to use the rumors like that?"

"Oh yeah! Those!" The rumors were not lost upon Nora as well… and she kind of liked them. Gave her hope, that the people of Beacon see some plausibility of their chemistry. "Yeah! Sorry, it was just silly Nora doing silly things again!"

Just silly things. No hope or desire to take him into her arms on this elevator ride and rocking the body electric, literally.

The elevator arrived at the bottom of the vault once more, and Nora and Jaune walked down the long hallway.

"So…. What is this doctor want with us, anyway?" Their walk to the elevator was too short; once Jaune was about to explain himself they were attacked by the Weiss Schneelock and Ruby Roseston.

Jaune's face winced, as he seemed to have problems saying any words, "Dr. Glass…. Wants to experiment on Zwei…."

"Wait, WHAT?" Nora screamed, the echoes of the underground chamber demanding a listen. "Experimenting on Zwei? Are you…. AND YOU AGREED TO IT?"

"If it's any consolation," a loud voice screeched from beyond the shadows of the long hallway, "he didn't seem too pleased about it. But keep in mind, it's hard to say no to a charmer like me!"

Lights that Nora didn't even know where there started drowning the darkness in beams of fluorescent artificial lighting. Wires entangled the high ceiling haphazardly, unorganized and clearly rushed.

They must've been installed yesterday.

At the end of the hall were two large pods that were connected to a singular console. Standing at the structure was the short man in his dark blue bowtie, thin rimmed spectacles, and orange hair. The stupidly named Pluto Glass.

"Wait… where did you get all this equipment from?" Jaune asked, looking at the mass of technology behind him.

Dr. Glass looked confused for a moment before snapping his fingers, an excited glint in his icy blue eyes. "Oh yes, the Aura Transfer System… it's been here the whole time."

"No it hasn't, we've been down here so many days…." Nora started to object, until the doctor raised his hand and raised his voice over hers.

"It was behind a hidden wall."

"….a hidden wall. That's your explanation?"

"No, it's the fact! There was a hidden wall that was too thick for you to break through unless you knew you wanted to break through it, which, considering the state of disarray this entire hallway is in," Dr. Glass raised his hands, forcing Nora to look around and see all the damage to the walls: the craters, the debris, the writings of 'Nora was here!' "you WEREN'T trying, otherwise the walls would be much more heavily damaged. This just looked like clumsy training."

Nora groaned as the man lectured, Jaune seemed as thrilled as she was.

"All righty, well, know that you both are finally present, I can finally show you what I learned!" He stepped to the side, revealing Zwei placed in a pod, clearly under, peacefully snoring within. While it was adorable, the dog was still in a pod... Nora whipped out Magnhild.

"Okay Nora, hold it…." Dr. Glass held out both hands, "Zwei is just under to avoid the painful effects of having your aura intrusively prodded and observed. He won't feel a thing, and he'll bounce out of this pod the same way you got him!"

"Oh… I understand," Nora gritted her teeth, "but is the pod comfy?"

"….huh?"

"Look," Jaune butted in, "I'm sure we can get behind Zwei not being harmed in that capsule, but…. Didn't you say we were to be PRESENT for the experiments? Not just debriefed?"

"I thought of it, but then I decided it would be much easier and much quicker just for me to do my thing and then perform the experiments that you NEED to be present for… to observe… well…. this."

Dr. Glass turned around and pressed some buttons, figures and graphs showing up on the monitor.

"As you know, Zwei's 'aura,' isn't really 'aura.' It's a hybrid of Aura and Grimm, a mixture of light and dark that, through the dichotomous dissonance, generates a reality bending energy that allows it to practically do anything. The charts agree with that fantastical claim from the story, but…. Well… it's how it works that's interesting."

"Before you explain anything further," Nora stepped up, "in English, please?"

"….I am speaking English." Dr. Glass looked confused.

"Now you are, but soon you'll descend into technobabble that makes no sense, so then we have to ask 'speak English,' and THEN you'll finally explain it. I just want to skip over the technobabble and get to the actual explanations, if you don't mind." Nora wasn't dumb, she just did not like waiting through over-complicated terms used to fill out the glossary of a textbook.

Dr. Glass smiled, "I like you." He turned around and looked over the graphs. "What's INTERESTING is that it's even more Grimm than Aura. Concentrations from the scan indicate a 'negative' score in aura size, which is physically impossible. Such an 'aura' would kill you, devour your soul from the inside without the assistance of specially designed inhibitors to prevent that… not that I would know." Dr. Glass coughed. "But that was what WAS, before you showed up… now… It's perfectly fine, a perfect balance. Zero.

"WHICH MEANS!" He turned around, "the entity uses phantom versions of your aura to balance the scales, due to your proximity. You essentially 'unlock' his aura, but the part of your aura that 'unlocks' it doesn't leave, it stays there, acting like a leash if you will that you both must be holding."

Jaune raised his hand like he was in class. Dr. Glass's pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jaune, this isn't class. Just speak up!"

"If that's the case… how does Zwei not DIE when we aren't present?"

"Simple…. Zwei's aura isn't unlocked at all, at least not in the standard sense. The aura is dormant but so is the Grimm essence. The 'aura' is locked when you aren't present, therefore, if does absolutely nothing. Zwei is just a dog!"

"O…kay?" Nora understood the basics, "but what does that mean for us?"

"Absolutely NOTHING! But…." Dr. Glass looked down, looking at his hand. "It does mean something for the weapons development and Grimm studies programs in Atlas. But that's not the most important thing. It can do wonders for one thing in particular." He started chuckling as he pressed the pod button, releasing the dog that was still asleep. He picked it up and put it in Jaune's arms.

"….like what?" Jaune asked.

"….like maybe a way to fix me."

* * *

Cinder wasn't displeased, she was simply thoughtful. Clearly Jaune was a more resilient mind than she thought. He would not be so easily charmed and led into her grasp. She needed to be more cunning, more seductive to force Jaune to leave his post as trainer with Nora, to accept himself as her…. slave. Yes… slave. There would be obedience training. It would be glorious.

Thankfully there was plenty of time before her planned assault on Beacon. An entire academic semester worth of time. She just had to plan, she just had to perfect, and… as humbling it was to admit it, she had to consult.

"So Neo, you never speak, but I assume that you have had many relations in the past, correct?"

Neo's eye twitched. Must've been something in the air, as she nodded obediently.

"Well…. when you want to showcase your lower half, what is the right amount of sway?"

Indeed, Cinder had asked the right person, Neo was smiling with eagerness to help her!

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. Life has been HELL, making it difficult to sit down and crank out a chapter in a reasonable amount of time while maintaining quality. I'm not even that happy with how this chapter turned out… but you'll be the judge!**

 **Also, I have another story! The Pickpocket and the Fraud, a Jaune X Emerald story. It's Rated M, be warned, but not because of Lemons and Smut. Because it's violent, dark, suggestive (but not erotica) and has language. I know a lot wanted Jaune X Winter, but after looking through my idea with that ship, I wasn't satisfied, so I took the second most requested… at least I think it was… I didn't really count. Also, it's Emerald redemption, not Jaune corruption. It has only one chapter, but I'll focus on making the second one next, before focusing all my attention on wrapping up Weiss vs. Atlas, preferably before October 22** **nd** **for obvious reasons.**

 **Anyway, Fave! Follow! Review! Perform SCIENCE on a Dog!**


	27. Wanting to be Let Out

**A/N: It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I got busy, got some writer's block, got some…. Third thing?… oh yeah! That new story, I got that as well. It's now about five chapters in, almost 30,000 words… when I start a new story, I tend to only be able to think about that specific story, so when I had free time, it was easier to write that story than this one. For that, I apologize, but…. I'm back!**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Glynda sat across from Ozpin, who brought up the mug to his face, slurping down his coffee with greedy desire. She sighed heavily, leaned her head to the side, and massaged her temples.

"So… you're telling me we can't investigate Cinder thoroughly…" Glynda mumbled. She knew that while Beacon was an independent institution free from general government interference and bureaucracy with the exception of some regulatory board, during the Vytal festival, there was another wrinkle in the system. All schools wanted their students to be treated welcomingly and kindly. Opening criminal investigations certainly did not qualify under those two, unless you welcomed hands frisking you.

"Indeed." Ozpin said, nodding his head. "All we can do is get things from the security cameras, which are mute…. Due to… recent regulations encouraged by a certain someone in this room…"

"It had to be done," Glynda reminded, "your… strange obsession with student relationships can easily be pursued through muter methods."

"But it does nothing but hinder…." Ozpin took another sip of coffee.

"Look, we're getting off topic. So we can't investigate Cinder or her team. Care to explain the reasoning?" She leaned back in her chair, grasping the handles with the grip only a frustrated woman outside of her youth could do.

"The only evidence is that her name is Cinder, and Jaune heard the White Fang boy-wonder mention the name 'Cinder.'" Ozpin leaned back, but his arms remained hovering over his lap, holding his coffee mug with a lax precision. "The question is, though, 'Cinder Who?'"

"What's that supposed to-"

"We all follow the tradition of naming people after colors Glynda, we're going to have repeats, especially for something as simple as 'Cinder.'" Ozpin leaned out of his chair, stood up, and walked towards the window. "There's a Cinder Park in this very city, and she makes wonderful pancakes. A couple towns down there's a Cinder Rose, with no relation to our Rose either." Glynda didn't need it spelled out who was 'their Rose…' wait, there was the first-year silver-eyed prodigy Ruby, and the third year named Thorne, and the other third year named Yellow…. Though her surname was hyphenated Rose-du-Tex-Mex…. There was also Kane Rosebud, but he was just a citizen.

"But her name is Cinder Fall. Her last name is LITERALLY Fall!"

"While that certainly sounds like a heavy coincidence, but if her name was so obvious, wouldn't she change it? It's probably more likely Ella Cinder who runs a maid company and is known for having the semblance to talk to small birds…."

"I've met her, she made me some glass slippers of all things… expert Glass blower, in more ways than one! If you know what I'm saying!" Dr. Pluto Glass walked in, wiggling his eyebrows and expanding his arms. When Glynda shot him a dirty look, he sighed and drooped his hands down in defeat, "I thought it was a funny."

"It had a little bit of merit," Ozpin extended his hand and wavered it slightly. "What brings you over here unannounced? And uninvited…" The short doctor rubbed his hands together, peering deep into the floor, lost in the labyrinth that was his own mind.

To Glynda, Dr. Glass was an annoyance: vulgar, didn't seem to take things seriously, didn't seem entirely 'all there' in the sanity department. The only reason Glynda could fathom Ironwood keeping him around was because his aura research was unparalleled. Still, his personality made her stiffen; made her want to whip out her crop and start flinging things at him.

It also didn't help that he was the one who kicked her out of the Vytal Festival… She may be mature but she didn't forget past embarrassments. She could move on… but never forget. Stupid semblance of his countering hers….

"Well, I've been running some simulations," he pulled out his scroll, grinning all the while, "and if we want to start snooping without breaking any Amnesty regulations as posted by our council overlords… we simply need to have someone do the snooping for us…"

"Why would you need simulations for that?" Glynda asked, "it's not some scientific phenomena we could predict…"

"Okay, risk calculations, and none of them are good." The man shrugged, "but remember how we could use Penny to draw our enemies out with her powers? If we're so determined to at least 'check' this Cinder character…."

"…then we force Penny to interact with them?" Ozpin nodded, "that seems incredibly stupid. I thought you said that Penny's creator was counting on you not getting her killed!"

"It does seem like pointless endangerment," Glynda agreed. "Imagine if Cinder IS the person who stole the Fall maiden powers, and IF Penny could fight her back. Do you imagine the DESTRUCTION that a full out maiden vs. maiden fight would do to the school? There would be fire EVERYWHERE! It'd be like the one time someone messed with Yang's shampoo, but somehow even WORSE!"

Dr. Glass looked at Glynda skeptically, but she couldn't care. She had to clean up after that…. And the whip cream…. So much whipped cream! Weiss and herself had vowed never to speak of it again.

"Yes…. Yes I do….." there was drool dripping from the doctor's mouth, before he suddenly straightened up and wiped his face. "It's just a suggestion though, I will wait for Ozpin's input, however."

"You'll ignore it if I say no, though." Ozpin pointed out, "you have no respect for authority and rely on your expertise and skill for everyone to begrudgingly deal with you."

Pluto sighed. "Did you really have to spell it out?"

"Just don't do anything too brash. We need information, not battles." Ozpin sternly replied as the Doctor nodded, and then slunk back into the elevator, the sliding doors closing ominously behind him. Ozpin sighed, "I hate OCs."

"Not all Official Commanders of Atlas are that arrogant, Ozpin." Glynda reasoned, "just the ones you deal with occasionally."

"Yeah… that's what I meant." Ozpin muttered.

* * *

The scythe collided with the shield, earning a collection of "oohs" from the crowd as Pyrrha's reflexes were uncannily on point to defend herself against the unusual speed of Ruby's strike. The cute girl's face was promptly met with a point blank bullet from Pyrrha's rifle. The small girl was rocketed back.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha guiltily cried out. She normally didn't apologize in the middle of an intense match, but…. Ruby was small and adorable. Even Nora had a desire to blurt out her own apology, despite only watching the extravaganza… and the fact Ruby has handed her a decent amount of losses. Hitting her with a hammer is hard, it was like a more murdery and much faster game of whack-a-mole.

"You know, it's hard to learn anything watching this fight." Jaune mused beside her. Nora looked at his leader as he watched the events unfold below. "Ruby is too fast to observe, and Pyrrha is…."

"Too intricate to observe?" Nora finished, as Jaune nodded. Nora turned back to the skirmish below. "I see what you mean, I feel Goodwitch puts her in a fight for the pure spectacle. Students don't fall asleep when there's a good show…" Ruby had switched to planting her scythe in the ground, lobbing piercing sniper shots, hoping to knock the undefeated champion off balance. She just dodged and weaved, eventually throwing her spear through the bullet, lodging Milo into the barrel of Crescent Rose.

Dust exploded into Ruby's face. The first day was repeating itself as Ruby laid dazed on the floor, her face forming swirls as she dizzyingly excepted her fate.

"Winner is Pyrrha," Goodwitch stated robotically. "Pyrrha, excellent as always. Ruby…. I'll… grant your critique to your scroll when you've… recovered a bit. Do you want to go to the medical wing?"

"Nope!" Ruby jutted an arm upwards, thumb erect. "I'm used to this happening to me!"

"Well, start getting not used to it; such a mindset would serve you better than meek acceptance!" Goodwitch regaled while she straightened her glasses as Ruby left the arena with the aid of Pyrrha holding her up by the shoulder. "Now, we have time for one more match, which, as is all our practice bouts up to this point, are going to be like the Vytal Festival… randomized." She pulled out her scroll and pressed a button.

 _Please be me! Please be me! Please be me!_ Nora chanted in her head, she had yet to get a good swing in at someone for a while. Closest thing she had to a fight was her scrimmage with Neo, which wasn't satisfying as much as she wished there was a recording she could watch and laugh at both herself and the murderous psychopath.

"Nora Valkyrie…"

"YES!" Nora jumped up, thrusting her fist into the air, colliding with the ceiling. She then plummeted down into her chair, pieces of plaster coming down with her, with some of the remaining debris immediately landing on Jaune.

The new transfer students' eyes suddenly shifted towards her as she gratefully smiled at the fearful attention… before realizing that Jaune was collapsed right beside her. "JAUNE!"

"I'm…. fine…. Nothing's broken." Jaune groaned as he remerged into his seat, shaking fragmented ceiling from his hair. "First I get launched into a ceiling, now the ceiling gets launched into me. It's… it's the way life is." Jaune chuckled as he then winced in pain. Nora mouthed 'sorry' as she got up to prep for the fight.

"And Cinder Fall." Goodwitch looked at the screen with mild disbelief, though Nora only saw it due to her already arriving in the arena. The classroom's audience hushed when the woman she was about to fight stood up.

Her "combat gear" clearly preferred movement over protection, her legs were fully exposed and what did cover her up was form-fitting silk. She sauntered up to the arena as every boy drooled. Nora gave a curious peak at Jaune, who looked… terrified? Nora immediately faced the woman, whose eyes reminded her of Blake's: amber, searing with judgement, as if they were on fire.

"Hello Nora, that…. Was an impressive display earlier." Her words found their way into her ears, massaging the canal with soft elegance. Her smile twisted yet did not mar her face, and it never truly left the face. "Not many people can jump that high."

"Yes, and…." Nora scrambled into her brain for a reply, "…. Not many people can move your hips like you do!"

Cinder chuckled, "aren't you sweet. Well, shall we begin?"

"I say when you begin!" Goodwitch spoke sternly, glaring at Cinder, her eyes attempting to peer into the woman's soul. Cinder just shifted her gaze and smiled back.

"My apologies professor, I'm just so excited to be here." Cinder shifted her gaze back to Nora, and released a sinister glare as her eyelids drooped almost lazily.

Goodwitch sighed, "very well. Begin!"

Nora unleashed Magnhild into its hammer form, leaped into the air, and slammed the ground to where Cinder was. The woman jumped out of the way, landing on the ground ahead of her, still standing straight, though her hips were slanted, her right hand placed confidently on the upright hip.

"Uh…." Nora looked Cinder up and down. "Where's your weapon?"

"Oops! I must've left it back at the dorm. How foolish of me!" The way she said it made it clear that Cinder didn't just _leave her weapon_. "Oh well, I always needed to practice my martial arts more rigorously. So, Nora…. How would you-" Nora launched a grenade, having shifted it to the launcher form during Cinder's small speech.

Cinder, despite being interrupted, jumped just in time to avoid the blast, and confidentially cartwheeled into a more upright stance. She then started sashaying forward, smirking all the while. Nora let out a volley of grenades.

She twisted her body away from the lobbed projectiles, each time shifting her butt around towards various members of the audience; she even winked to a few… though all those winks seemed to be towards the same direction… Nora gave a peek as to where….. Jaune? And he was blushing!

As Nora was distracted, she felt the impact of shoe to cheek, and she tumbled all the way to the wall. She collided with the metallic structure, hearing it reverberate but not crack under her impact. She shook her head, reoriented her vision, and looked at Cinder, who simply stood still, not taking the opportunity to strike again. Instead, she shifted her body away from Jaune, leaned suggestively forward, perking up her rear towards Nora's favorite leader. Her face then turned to Nora, still smirking that same smirk.

Nora grunted and felt Magnhild shift in her grip. She wound up the hammer and charged forward, screaming all the while.

Cinder then bent her torso backwards, effectively doing the limbo beneath Nora's swing. Bending all the way backward, Cinder pressed the palm of her hands on the floor and then cartwheeled into an aerial backflip before landing right in front of Nora at the end of her whiff. She then extended her other leg and shoved her heel down the back of Nora's neck.

Nora's face buried itself into the faux dirt of the floor, her mouth being filled with the grainy, artificial substance. _Great, I'm literally eating dust._ She lifted her head up and spat out the dirt, and looked up defiantly at her attacker, her eyes following up her legs to- she received the tip of Cinder's foot right into her nose.

"If you're curious to look up…. Know that I'm not interested in that. From little girls at least… though women…." Cinder smirked as she continued strutting forward, flashing the ivory white of her legs in increasingly provocative positions.

"I'm not a girl," Nora muttered as she forced herself up as she wound up Magnhild, her teeth grinding up on each other, making small sparks that only she could be capable of sensing. With the mallet and staff principally behind her, she unleashed a grenade, forcing her body into a massive spin.

The pink tornado reached Cinder and made contact, the mallet hitting her chest at rocketing her off to the side, and taking a chunk of her aura with her. She grasped the ground, sliding and skidding along the ground, slowing her down enough for her not to make contact with the wall.

Nora reveled in feeling the impact on the bitch, but felt her feet start stuttering along the ground, wobbling and swaying as her body tried to readjust to not spinning. It was then she felt the uppercut to her chin, followed by a spinning kick to her airborne stomach. Nora flipped through the air and plopped down on the ground, a buzzing overcoming her ears.

"Winner, Cinder Fall!" Goodwitch said, with no excitement in her voice. "Nora, while that attack was certainly devastating and could certainly work on a person with smaller aura, you are left incredibly vulnerable even if it connects. Work on maintaining your sense of balance or don't use the attack at all."

"….yes….ma'am…." Nora groaned as her head still spun. _How did Cinder get to me so quick?... Oh wait, yeah, everyone can dash fast even without Ruby's semblance._

"And Cinder…. Remember your weapons next time." Goodwitch sighed, "and we're out of time for the day. Nora, can you stand up?"

Nora placed her feet on the ground and held her head, the world slowly ceasing its blurring. "Good match… Cinder, is it?" She called out, not knowing where to face to make eye contact with her opponent. Instead she got a hand slithering in the crook between her torso and elbow, as Cinder helped her out of the arena.

"Indeed…. And Nora is yours, correct?" Cinder said Nora's name like it was the most interesting thing about her. Nora nodded, and Cinder let out a soft chuckle.

"You and I are going to get along fine….. I may _bug_ you a little bit later down the line, but hopefully we can become close…. You and your team… your leader is nice to look at…" Cinder added softly, her tongue clicking to her teeth like a lustful snake.

 _Lustful snake… didn't Neo say something about looking for a woman whose voice was like a serpentine prostitute?…. Or something? I didn't write it down…. Wait… she's interested in Jaune?!_

Nora pushed herself off Cinder gently, straightening herself out. "I would certainly appreciate your friendship, as I am a lover of friends, but…. Jaune is not interested!"

"Oh?" Cinder crossed her arms, "I am pretty good at convincing people Nora."

"Well I!... have no interest in 'competing' with you on that front, I just want you to know that Jaune is off limits… for you…. specifically."

"And what if I disagree…." Cinder's smile still remained on her face, but her eyebrows furrowed, her hot eyes burning brighter as it challenged Nora to make another move, "…I mean… it's not like you're able to stop me or anything…. I didn't even bring my weapons."

"Is that a threat, Cinder?" Nora asked, her glare becoming grave towards the sultry woman.

"I'm just stating facts," she whispered in her ear, and then sauntered off, hearing a small chuckle as her feet continued striking the ground like it was a small act of conquering the floor. _Okay, that was definitely the woman Neo warned me against…. Now what do I do about it?_

It wasn't like she could fight her off Jaune; she wasn't Pyrrha…. But she did have Zwei. And Jaune. And she could just tell the authorities that a wanted criminal informed her that… wait… no, it wouldn't work. If she ratted Neo out as her informant, Nora could imagine the ice-cream themed murderer would not be pleased.

And if Cinder truly desired Jaune…. What could she do to compete? Cinder was sexy! She was dangerous in that _I know it's wrong, but I don't want to be right_ kind of way. If Nora was a lesbian, she would've had a hard time focusing herself! Yang couldn't even compare!

At least her personality was crap.

"Nora!" Jaune came down with the rest of their team and wrapped her arms around Nora… before immediately retracting them with a look of mild panic. "Thank Oum you're okay! That…. That woman…."

"Nothing you should worry about, she beat me fair and square!" Nora crossed her arms as she sulked into deep thought, thankful that her team-mates would only attribute it to simply wallowing in post-defeat self-pity.

"She certainly seems like a capable combatant," Pyrrha mused, "I honestly would relish the chance to fight her, she doesn't even seem to use any metal, I wouldn't be able to cheat!" Pyrrha looked genuinely excited. "A foe that could give me the challenge I have truly been missing! I'm dying for a good challenge!"

Then there was an awkward silence as everyone looked at Pyrrha for no real discernable reason.

"What?"

"Hey Jaune, can I talk to you for a sec?" Nora did not wait permission as he grabbed Jaune by the arm and dragged him away from Ren and Pyrrha. They reached an empty classroom as Nora let go and then hurriedly walked to the front of the class, her arms crossed as she moved forward, facing away from Jaune.

"Yeah…. Nora?... What's up?" Jaune asked with concern in his voice. Nora sighed as she let her arms limp to her sides as she looked at the ground.

"So… uh…." _How do I bring this to your attention without sounding like a paranoid stalker?_ "…that Cinder woman was… interesting…"

"Yeah…. She is." There was a noise of Jaune scratching the back of his head, the sign that something was making him feel awkward.

"I… don't trust her." Nora said with finality. "I mean… it's not because I lost, it's just she's so slimy and suspicious acting! I mean, her voice literally makes it seem that she's saying an evil scheme!" _Yes! That's the angle to approach it!_

"Yeah… I don't trust her either." Jaune said simply as Nora heard Jaune plop down onto a chair. Nora turned around to see a seated Jaune twiddling his thumbs in his lap. "I mean… I've heard her name before. Before she arrived here, I mean. From Adam."

"Adam?"

"He said it off-handedly, but I put it to memory. Something about showing my severed head…. Or something."

"Oh." _Well, that is MUCH different than what THIS Cinder wanted…instead of getting the head, she wants to give head._ "Well… what do we do?"

"I told Goodwitch, if there's something that can be done, they'll do it."

Nora nodded, "we have a training session with Zwei tonight, correct?"

"We do." Jaune nodded as well.

"Then we'll talk during then, we shouldn't make our team believe we're doing something in this classroom. Oum knows the rumors are spreading…" Nora enjoyed hearing them, the imaginations of others creating an image of which she wanted to enact. They were giving her ideas if she ever had the actual damn courage to tell Jaune how she felt.

"Oh… yeah… that…." Jaune blushed as he got up and then left with Nora from the classroom. Pyrrha and Ren waited outside, looking at them strangely.

"Just personal things I wanted to discuss with our leader…. I hope you don't mind…" She knew that Ren wouldn't mind, he was able to deduce her feelings, the bastard.

"No problem," Ren nodded, before glancing at Pyrrha to make sure that she agreed with him. Pyrrha hurriedly nodded as they walked back to their dorm, emboldened to finish their homework early in the week…. It never worked, as Nora always procrastinated, but she tried every week to not… she just failed.

* * *

Cinder knew it was a risk to fight Nora, but she wanted to let the bitch know who was in charge. She wanted to show Jaune how strong she was, how she could easily topple over his current partner that shared the unflinching power of the beast. She needed to show her superiority. And her ass. And maybe her breasts as well. Anything to help.

It was Neo's suggestion as well, one that she truly saw the reasoning behind, in spite of her lack of words. She valued her own plans, but that didn't mean she didn't fully value the work of her associates. They were like her when she first met Salem… young, inexperienced, but filled with potential to be _almost_ as dangerous as she was.

She snickered as she entered her room and was met with a bizarre sight. It was Neo, grinning, holding out what appeared to be a suit bag, a black hanger sticking out from a hole on the top. Cinder looked at it and strolled over to swipe it from Neo's hands.

"What is this, Neo? Is this the new outfit I ordered for specific use for the Vytal tournament?" She was excited for it…. A shirt that barely counted as a shirt, skin tight pants, and weird wrappings around her lower torso that make no sense but look cool. It was her combat outfit for her undercover wardrobe, considering she often wore the dress for her criminal meetings…. Yet Glynda didn't recognize her from their altercation at the dust shop… the shadow wasn't THAT obscuring. Clearly she could get away with much…

Neo fiercely shook her head, but continued smiling. She then posed sexily, moving her body slowly and erotically.

"This…. Is to help me seduce Jaune?" Neo nodded happily, hopping up and down in clear excitement. Cinder smiled, Neo knew her too well….. Yeah… too well…. Any better Neo might have to be silenced.

She opened the bag to reveal the brand new outfit. She was expecting delicate lingerie, or an even more revealing cocktail dress, maybe a swimsuit that barely covers the essentials…

She pulled the outfit out of the bag.

"…A pink pantsuit?"

Neo nodded, pulled out a picture of Jaune, pointed at it, then made a heart shape with her hands, and then pointed at the suit.

"You did research and discovered that Jaune is… attracted to pantsuits?"

Neo shrugged. Cinder looked at the poor excuse for formal wear with disgust.

"You better be right…." Cinder then heard a knock on the door, she gave a stiff glare to Neo, as her entire appearance shifted into the 'Lacey Mint' caricature. Cinder smiled as she turned around to open the door.

"Greetings from Atlas!" A girl then shot out her hand aggressively. "I'm Penny! And I want to be your friend!"

"Uh… hi?" Cinder took the hand and shook it…. It was interesting… There was a warmth to it… A warmth she felt drawn towards….

* * *

Vale Maximum Security Prison was a totally uncreative name for a totally uncreative place. It was currently primarily inhabited by guards and White Fang members, Adam Taurus locked in the furthest and darkest cell… it also had the dripping faucet on his personal sink. It was especially cruel for an especially cruel person.

The guards surveyed the area, looked at cameras, drank coffee, and chatted amongst themselves. They were led by Captain Blake Poppy, a man in his forties but with the fortitude of a man in his fifties. He also was occasionally called "not the real Blake" by Adam, for some reason. There was also his second in command, Yang Komodo, but she was simply called Yang Bigfoot, as her feet, and as such her footwear, was of unusually thin and large of size, and Yang Shoe-Long sounded stupid.

They were waiting for the new guy, a man who called himself Jaune Harrison.

"He's never late! What's taking him so long?" Blake mumbled.

"Maybe he's taking a short 'Jaune't?" Yang joked, and Blake rolled his eyes, sipping a big slurp of coffee.

"I can't take my break until he arrives," Blake sighed, "and I'm at a good part in my novel, it's when the villain reveals himself by bursting down the door and-"

The doors burst down, revealing Jaune Harrison as he walked into the room, holding confiscated weapons from the locker…. One in particular being the very sword that Adam used in his attack in Vale. Behind him a variety of men in Grimm masks fanned out from behind him, pointing guns at the two guards.

"Jaune? What is the meaning of this?"

"Jaune Harrison was a fiction I made up the moment you took one of the best voices this movement had ever seen!" The man smiled as he strode forward, "a smoke screen to hide my true identity." He then stood defiantly and stared the two guards down.

"My name…. is Kahn."

The two guards met him with silence. They looked at each other and shrugged.

"So… like…. Genghis Kahn, the famous restauranteur with many wives?"

"What?" The man was taken aback. "No! I'm…."

"Oh! You're A. Merry Kahn! The one who always walks around saying 'Fuck yeah!'"

"No! Do I LOOK like that nincompoop? I'm…."

"Comic Kahn? The reclusive nerd but popular internet blogger that seems to have all the scoop on upcoming pictures?"

"NO! I'm Sienna Kahn!"

There was another pause.

"The leader of the White Fang?" Sienna reminded.

"I thought Adam was the leader…." Yang pondered.

"He's not! Why would he be? He's a good soldier but he's so young!"

"Let's be honest we all look the same age, just some of us have grey hair or beards."

"Oum my Monty! Men, just shoot these bastards!"

The White Fang opened fire, felling those guards, neither the first nor the last of their takeover of the prison.

Sienna made his way to the farthest cell in the darkest corner, he rapped on the bars.

A broken man emerged, facial hair creeping on his face, his exposed eyes appearing worn and torn.

Sienna smiled, and held out Wilt and Blush. "I believe these belong to you."

* * *

 **A/N: In before Sienna turns out to be a woman. I mean…. Who knows? If (s)he is, then the joke could still work because crossdressing. If British humor taught me anything is that crossdressing is hilarious… as well as a way certain people deal with gender identity.**

 **Anyway, sorry for the wait. I told you it's hard cranking out these chapters, but I vow never to leave this story behind.**

 **HOWEVER, we hit another milestone! And it's time for another Omake to celebrate, so behold!**

* * *

 _ **Time for Snooping!**_

 _An Omake in honor of getting 420 Favorites!_

* * *

Something was off, and Glynda was going to figure it out. The halls were empty, and no students were causing problems. A school filled with post-adolescent individuals with deadly weapons, and NOTHING wrong was happening, excuse Glynda if she was skeptical.

She started walking down hallways, searching for the something she'd know she'd find if she just looked hard enough. She peered through corners, she checked in broom closets, she even checked empty classrooms, where students were known to have random heart to hearts… and other things to other things that were definitely inappropriate.

She then decided to check Ozpin's office, maybe he would have an idea. He had all those damn cameras.

Glynda walked into Ozpin's office and….

Everyone was in there. Every student! Every teacher! Every member of custodial staff! And… they all had coffee cups in their hands.

"Aw yeah, that's the stuff," one student said as he loudly slurped the dark liquid in a mug.

"Ah, Glynda, glad you could make it." Glynda turned her attention to Ozpin, who smiled wider than usual, "due to recent events loosening restrictions on recreational caffeine, I decided to host a party for anyone who was interested in trying out the good stuff."

Glynda paused. "Ozpin…. Caffeine has always been legal."

"Well my brand of coffee wasn't, but now it is! And look at the results!"

"I… like…. Should stop trying to be evil… start… start doing good." Cinder Fall's face had finally relaxed into a content neutrality that neither smiled nor frowned. She then greedily gulped more coffee.

Glynda slapped her face, "what even is IN your coffee, Ozpin? Marijuana?"

Ozpin chuckled, "no, of course not." He took a big slurp. "It's cocaine."

* * *

 **….My Omakes are always more weird than funny… .Oh who am I kidding this entire story is more weird than funny. ANYWAY, hope you enjoyed this new chapter!**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Realize that Other People Have the Same Name as You, if You Haven't Already!**


	28. What's the Woof that Could Happen?

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Another visit to Goodwitch's office, another book off of her shelves: _Bodies, Pillows, and Body Pillows._ Jaune wasn't entirely sure if this book was Blake's cup of tea, since it was either an erotic comedy or an erotic escapism, and she seemed to like thoughtful plot in between her smut, but he had a short window to explore Goodwitch's no-no bookshelf, which involved him literally jumping out of Goodwitch's window to avoid detection.

Thank Oum for Aura and Bushes.

He went to where Blake and he agreed to make these transactions, the dark corner of the library that Blake had scoped out to avoid another repeat of Yang finding her and toying with her via laser pointer. Coincidentally, the same humble nook that Nora and he used to first study up on _The Beast and the Two Trainers_ story. Jaune smiled; good times.

He arrived, smile on his face and book in his hand, but was greeted by a disturbing site. A personal computer's light blankly glowed on Blake's face, whose eyes were wide and features rigid. Her fingers were grasping at the keyboard, slamming at keys with no speed but with a frantic force, as if clawing aggressively at a scratch post. The smell of catnip covered the corner, and the only sound other than the slamming of the keys was Blake's random breathing: heavy yet infrequent.

"Blake…. Are you okay?"

"They busted him out." Blake said simply.

"….Uh…."

"Adam's back!" Blake released her hands from the keyboard, grasped at the back of the computer monitor, and slammed it closed. "He's back! Of course he is, I thought…. I thought I was finally free of him. Of course not STUPID Blake! STUPID STUPID STUPID!" Jaune almost jumped to see Blake's hands lurch towards her face, almost to strike herself, before stopping, and instead grasping at her bow and frantically shuffling her feet back and forth, walking in a circle. "This is bad… this is…. wait, does that mean SIENNA is in town? Oh….. Oum no. No no no no no…"

"Blake!" Jaune snapped, causing Blake to lightly jump almost at attention. It was sharper than he intended, but at least it worked. "Calm down…. Okay…. Chill." If it was Pyrrha, Nora, and maybe even Ruby, Jaune would have closed the distance and took hold of her arms to keep them still. However, this was Blake, and all he could comfortably do was verbal communication with kind hand gestures…. Or risk getting really badly hurt… Poise be damned, Blake can make him feel pain.

"I can't chill! Not with… Adam back in Vale, a free man! He's going to come for me…. he's…" Blake eyes somehow widened even further, "he's coming for you too!"

Jaune's heart metaphorically _thunked_ into the floor, burrowed into the hardwood, and entered the vault where Nora and he train Zwei. "What?"

"You beat him! Yes, I wore him down, did most of the hard work, and you won simply by unveiling your semblance, but…. You still beat him! And Adam…. Adam does NOT like losing, and does NOT like letting someone he loses to just to…. stay as the winner." Blake resumed pacing back and forth, "and this time he KNOWS what to expect from you!"

Jaune opened his mouth, then closed it, then scratched the back of his head, then tapped his foot, and then went through a checklist of things he did when he was nervous.

"We need to prepare!" Blake said, and abruptly sat down and opened the laptop, "I've already did some deep web research as to some meeting places and small strongholds remaining in Vale, Adam might go there to recalibrate and recover. We must study all the possible assault lanes someone might do to plan an assassination in Beacon, where security is weakest, where…."

Jaune heaved a deep sigh, attempting to release the pent up fear, "Blake, we should-"

"….I'll have to see if I can find some grunts to shake down, get information, if we could go out tonight…."

"Blake, maybe we should take the time to-"

"….no! I have to find Adam alone, I can't put other people in danger again! Bringing Yang last time was a mistake…."

"Blake, I think you need to-"

"Oh, who am I kidding, I can't fight him alone! I'll just bring more people I care about in harm's way, potentially sending them to-"

"When Candy Cornwallis woke up," Jaune read aloud, having opened the book he was offering to Blake, "she realized something. There was something warm next to her. _Funny_ , she thought _, my new body pillow doesn't have a self-heater._ She turns her head over her shoulder to see a shirtless, strapping man holding onto her with his bulging, firm biceps."

"….what?"

"The man then said, 'you gave me life. Now, let me give you love….'"

"Jaune what the hell is this?"

"Candy was speechless as he reached for…."

"JAUNE!" Blake's scream was expected, but even then Jaune couldn't help but wince from the adrenaline. "Why aren't you taking this seriou- I mean- WHAT?"

"I'm reading an erotic comedy about a body pillow turned to life," Jaune shrugged, "do I have your attention?"

Blake blinked multiple times.

"Thank you," Jaune sighed as he put the book down. "Can we just call our teams and talk about it with them?"

Blake nodded, and they calmly walked back to their dorms, to discuss the matter with their teams. Jaune waved good-bye to Blake, opened his own room, and greeted his team with the news.

They all panicked together, but it was calm panicking, not interspersed with erotic body pillows reaching for unrevealed things. That was for Blake, not him.

* * *

Adam stood at the other end of the warehouse. He shook with fury, but he always shook with fury, his grimacing frown being the only feature visible from his mask. Cinder was almost curious to visit the bull faunus in jail to finally see his full face. He was apparently handsome, prone to the White Fang women to swoon over his bad boy attitude. But alas his heart belonged to another.

And he would never fucking shut up about it.

"Now my love, now…. I will make you see…." Adam's mutterings did not fail to reach Cinder's ears, and she focused on every word. She knew she didn't need to, but it focused her attention away from how tight and constricting the stupid pantsuit was. She had to loosen it up, wear it a couple times so that when she revealed it's… concealing glory to her future slave/beloved, she'd be able to move in it.

"All in due time Adam. It's pleasing for me to see you out."

"Cinder!" Adam jumped up to face Cinder, before his frown twisted downwards in confusion. "Uh… did I interrupt an undercover mission or…"

"Just trying new things to blend in, you never know when one must infiltrate a boardroom, Adam." Cinder smirked. "Now, due to your recent escape…."

"With no help from you…"

"I assure you we didn't have the time," Cinder eyed Adam's mask holes with a simmering warning, "I was confident Sienna could get you out. May I ask how?"

"Sienna disguised as a male security guard and broke me out from the inside…." Adam's hand caressed Blush with an intense grip, he looked down at his weapon. "And fetched Wilt and Blush for me as well."

Cinder nodded, "I always thought Sienna is a girl's name…."

"It is." Adam curtly responded.

"Then why did she dress up as a male security guard?"

"She's…. or he's…. uh…." Adam started, "you know how I always wear this mask?"

Cinder nodded.

"He or she always wears a disguise. I have no idea what he or she looks like."

"…how do you know if….. _they_ are even a faunus?"

Adam sighed, "we can sense each other."

Cinder nodded again. "Well, let's look past all these unnecessary details. I'm here to help you get back up to speed, and I don't want to go to class. Since your escape, a lot has come to pass. We are now stationed into the bowels of Beacon, a trap lying in wait for the enemy, the bait tantalizingly placed in a set spot, but of course, not fully revealed until it's time for them to led to their doom, which will happen in due time with my amazing fool-proof plan that is…."

Cinder kept going, letting the sweetness-of-blood speech course out into the air, to grace Adam's ears to listen to such brilliance made to sound beautiful. She articulated every pride and every joy and every single moment was fully encapsulated in every single well-crafted sentence that said all that needed to be said and more.

"….in conclusion, I need you to return to the shadows until it is your time. For now, relax, help Torchwick, but don't get involved."

Adam, clearly spellbound by just how inspiring her speech was, stuttered back to life with an affirmative nod, before gruffly replying, "what about Jaune? Is he still a threat?"

"Jaune is being taken care of by me…"

"I can beat him!" Adam firmly drove his foot into the cold warehouse floor, "I was caught unawares, but this time I'll beat him! I know what I'm…"

Cinder limped forward, the tight pants stuttering her usual strut, and tried to smoothly press a finger to Adam's mouth, only to stiffly press it against his lips. "It's my concern, Adam. No need to work yourself up about it." Cinder then turned around, and stuttered and marched out of the warehouse.

She was going to ask Neo if there was anything _else_ she could do to woo Jaune.

* * *

Zwei hovered in the air, let out's it's tongue, and after stretching it out like an iguana's, slashed about in a flurry of strikes, the energy-sharpened tongue delivering what would be a devastating series of blows. Thankfully, Nora and Jaune stepped back…. This time.

"I have to say, the tongue-sword is…. as weird as it gets." Jaune scratched the back of his head as Zwei continued, "I mean, look at it!" Saliva started spreading across the room, drenching the knight in drool, his eyelids pressed shut to keep from the offending projectiles from invading his oculi. "Because I can't look at it!"

Nora held Neo's spare umbrella, feeling the torrent of spit splatter across the fabric. "It could get weirder, in all honesty! Imagine if the tongue was also on fire!"

"Just because something gets lit on…." Suddenly, Jaune and Neo's spare umbrella were encased in ice, as well as a good chunk of the wall. Jaune's form thunked on the ground, slowly rolling towards Nora's unaffected body. Nora yelped in panic as she dropped the umbrella and coursed her body with electricity and draped herself over her leader.

Laugher echoed through the halls as Nora looked up to see the short Atlesian scientist giving a sardonic applause. He'd been sitting in the background, typing into his stupid machines and making the occasional grunts of curiosity every time Zwei did a stunt. Nora tolerated his presence, but….

"Hey! A little help here?"

Dr. Glass sighed as he unveiled his weapon, the slide shifting to a red segment on the baton, "move aside."

After Jaune thawed and Zwei let himself down to pant at Nora's feet, the Doctor broke the ice, "so I have my notes," he pulled up his notebook, "Ironwood probably won't be so satisfied with them, but you might take something from it."

"W-w-what i-i-s-s is it?" Jaune chattered as Nora knelt by his side and Zwei fruitlessly licked his hands.

"Zwei can convert the energy his state provides to well…. anything. Anything an aura or a Grimm is able to produce. In other words, it seems he can have every semblance possible and every Grimm evolutionary tactic possible." He pressed his glassed and leaned back onto the wall. "However, none of my findings tell me how to replicate it. Subjects that have had their aura merged with Grimm essence," he gestured at himself, "only have it amplify the aura's inherent powers while providing it with nothing new. Whatever allows Zwei such an absurd arsenal is unquantifiable, and may simply be a result of inherited legends like others that exist." He sighed, "I'm going to have to tell Ironwood that I can't replicate Zwei the same way I can't replicate a maiden or my ex-wife."

"Well, that's good then!" Nora interjected, "that means that Zwei's power is ours alone! Right Jaune?"

It was hard to tell if Jaune was nodding or just shaking his head in general from the cold, but Nora took it as affirmation.

"That being said," Dr. Glass raised his hand, "this does mean that your training methods are incredibly limited."

"What? Limited? I'll have you know we've been working Zwei to his full potential, as well as ours!" Nora felt indignant. Jaune and her had been working hard on training Zwei. Harder than anything she worked on in her life! The amount of injuries Jaune had to go through just during one session should go without saying!

"I'm not saying you're intentionally doing that, or not working hard enough." Dr. Glass raised his hands in defense, "what I AM saying is that you've been focusing on Zwei being a dog. Rolling in the dirt, leaving tracks, barking, shooting cute puppy dog eye-lasers, icy dog-slobber!" He gestured at all the ice permeating the room, "all the powers you've trained Zwei in doing have been dog-related. You should broaden your horizons, discover new powers that have nothing to do with Zwei's canine nature. If Zwei can basically generate any possible semblance…." His eyes glazed over in almost wistful wonder, "mind if I do some stuff with the dog?"

"You would do it without our permission anyway," Nora sighed as she carried Jaune back to the wall as Pluto Glass walked up to the dog, knelt down, and started petting it.

"W-w-what do y-you think he's g-going to do?" Jaune's voice became more steady, yet was still laced with enough shiver to distort it, much to Nora's humor.

"I have no idea…."

The doctor pulled out a tennis ball from his pocket, and offered it to the dog, who wrapped around the sphere with its toothy maw. He then walked some distance away.

"Okay Zwei! Spit it at me!" He ordered.

Zwei did as ordered; the ball rocketed at the doctor in blinding speed, a comet made of burning wool and rubber flashed across the dark vault.

Dr. Glass quickly raised is hand, his palm outward facing the oncoming projectile. The ball almost collided with his hand, but was stopped by a suddenly visible energy circle the size of Akuou, generated by his outreached palm. The ball suddenly reversed course and zoomed towards Zwei, following the same path it went earlier, but reversed.

Zwei barked and jumped out of the way, the ball slamming into the entrance of the vault, the elevator doors vibrating intensely from the impact.

"Okay Zwei, fetch!" The dog yipped but turned around and retrieved the ball, shortly returning it earlier.

"Now spit it at me again!" The process repeated for a good five minutes. Zwei would spit the ball, Dr. Glass would send it back, and Zwei would dodge and then retrieve it.

"Doctor, honestly, what are you trying to do here?" Nora asked after Zwei brought the ball back for the slothillionth time.

"Spit it!" The ball burned once more in the vault's small chunk of atmosphere, and Dr. Glass once more sent it back.

Zwei didn't dodge this time, and with a bark of annoyance, stood his ground as the ball was about to collide with his cute little muzzle.

 _GONGGGG!_

Zwei glowed a brilliant white as the ball harmlessly plinked off of him and rolled on the floor. Zwei then barked, releasing a torrent of sonic energy that caught the doctor unawares, blasting him into the aura pods on the other end of the vault.

"Huh…" Dr. Glass grunted, "I thought he would mimic _my_ semblance…" he then knelt his head back as he laid sprawled across the machines, "….ow…."

"Wait…." The gears in Nora's head clicked, "that was Jaune's semblance…."

"Imagine what he'd be like with all your team's semblances, Poise, Polarity, Electricity, and….." Dr. Glass stroked his chin while he still was collapsed over his own machinery, "… whatever." Those were his last words as he closed his eyes and passed out.

"Well, I think that's enough for the day." Jaune had fully recovered, Nora not noticing the warmth returning to his hands…. Which she had been holding. Jaune looked at Nora with a smile, nervousness in his eyes.

Nora was still holding Jaune's hands.

She immediately let go, as she casually walked over to the doctor. "Are you really passed out or are you faking it?"

Dr. Glass gave a thumbs up.

Nora rolled her eyes and turned around and joined Jaune as they ascended up the elevator with Zwei in tow. "So…. Zwei can mimic semblances."

"Seems like it." Jaune groaned as he slapped a hand on his face, "more things to worry about, I guess."

"Still thinking about Adam?" Nora asked as the elevator doors parted, leaving them alone in the dark hall. They walked out, their steps quiet yet the echoes of their feet still audible to them alone.

"Yeah." Jaune admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I'm not super worried, I've dealt with worse, with what happened back in the jungle." Nora nodded in agreement. "Still, from what Blake has said Adam is a skilled killer; a master combatant with an ego and desire to save face. He's going to try to kill me to prove that he's better than me, which is honestly true."

"Oh don't say that!" Nora whisper-yelled. "Adam is a bloodthirsty idiot who can't get over that Blake has moved on from him! Sure, he may be a better fighter, but he's not better than you. Not by a long shot…"

"You know I didn't mean 'as a person,'" Jaune laughed, "my self-esteem isn't so low to think that I'm a worse person than a terrorist. A terrorist that also can count as a creeper as well."

"Uhg, I guess that's one pro of being single my whole life: no creepy exes." Nora shivered.

"Same here." Jaune and Nora high fived quietly. Nora found herself looking down on the floor.

"You know, I learned something with Weiss." Jaune wistfully remarked, "I mean, I was definitely a creeper to her….."

"No you weren't…. just…. Determined: obnoxiously so." Nora shrugged. "Weiss doesn't hold it against you too much."

"I know, I guess…. When I gave up on Weiss, and then realized Pyrrha had feelings for me, I had an epiphany." Jaune looked up to the sky, "you can earn romance. You can do everything right. You can be the best friend, be there for them, express your romantic interest in the most respectful and meaningful way, and that romantic interest can be as genuine and true as it comes." Jaune then sighed, "but just because you 'earn' it, doesn't mean you're 'entitled' to it. Pyrrha certainly 'earned' my heart through hard work, but…. I couldn't just give it to her."

"That's true…" Nora replied simply.

"And…. while I maybe didn't 'earn' it with Weiss, I was more annoying that genuine." Jaune chuckled in past reveries, "it certainly wasn't some vapid attempt or pure hormonal drive, I was genuinely interested in getting to know her, and expressed it as best I could."

"Pyrrha's too subtle. You…. weren't."

"Still, even if I DID do a better job, still wouldn't change the fact Weiss didn't see me that way. At least not then and not now."

"I guess it's a combination of 'earning' it and…. chance?" Nora turned her head to look at Jaune

Jaune shrugged, turning his own head towards Nora"or maybe it's just a level of self-awareness to know you have good chemistry with, and then you earn it; the rest would follow."

"Or maybe one should stop trying to 'earn' it, and wait for it to happen?"

"But if we stop trying, will we find anything? Can we rely on love to find us? Are we doomed to just…. Chance?"

"Maybe," Nora pulled her hands behind her back, "we shouldn't try to 'earn' other people, and just focus on being the best person we can be, and hope that we find someone who recognizes that in us. Not in heroics. Not in our assistance. Just being ourselves and hoping that we connect with other people that way."

"Nora," Jaune remarked, "you're much deeper than you realize, you know that?"

"If I didn't realize it, how would I know it?"

"….now you're just negating everything I say, aren't you?"

"Or am I?" Nora's face twisted into a smile, then broke down into a laugh. "Jaune, I grew up with Ren, I HAD to learn how to talk philosophical, otherwise Ren would've left me long ago."

"Ren would never abandon you."

"Not now, but you do know how much young kids can be jerks!"

Jaune and Nora laughed as they continued down the hall, Zwei bounding between them. The air was cold, the atmosphere was empty, yet all Nora could feel was the electricity coursing through her.

"So… Jaune, I know it's a decent amount of time away, but…. Talking about romance…." Nora did everything in her power to avoid stuttering, "but… have you thought about who you want to take to the dance?"

"Oum my Monty not you too…." Nora grimaced at Jaune's response, as her leader seemed to stop walking and suddenly sag like a limp punching bag. "that's all people ask me these days."

"….what?"

"I've been asked by Penny from Atlas, that Cinder girl who I still don't trust," Nora nodded, "and Team CRDL started a BETTING POOL on who I'll take to the dance, and apparently the whole school is involved, there's even a bet for 'no one.'" Nora frowned at that. "And people are trying to figure it out by asking me! I have half a mind of not even going but…. That's a category to bet on too, so no matter what I do," Jaune sagged even further, "someone is making money off me."

"Well…. at least it's not your money…."

"Still, I think I understand what it's like to be Pyrrha, all the weird attention that at first makes no sense." Jaune heaved out a load of air. "Anyway, I have thought about it."

Nora perked up, "and?..."

"I mean, I can't ask Pyrrha. I trust she's willing to move on, but bringing her to the dance might rekindle that hope so…. I don't want to… break her heart again. Cinder is a no. And Penny… Penny is interesting….. but…. I'm not so sure."

Nora knew that being subtle and secretive and 'hinty' with Jaune was a no-go. "Jaune, would you be willing to go to the dance with me?"

Jaune stopped in his tracks, his feet skidding along the tile, sole to marble replicated a scratched record.

"I mean…. Why not? If you have no idea who else to go with?" Nora smiled as she pushed her shoulders up to her cheeks like her entire vertebra was shoved past her skull. "Also, the people who bet on you taking me will find themselves experiencing the mallet of Magnhild to their legs, and that money taken for us to split the profits!" Nora jumped up in excitement as she exhaled her excuse as proudly as she could, puffing her chest as she stood tall and poised.

"So…." Jaune carefully drawled, "we'd be going together…."

"But not together-together," Nora quickly added, her smile threatening to shatter her cheekbones. _I'm not ready to…. fully express myself yet._

Jaune paused, and then gave a small smile.

"Sure."

* * *

Weiss watched them with binoculars. They were out at night. They had Zwei with them.

And strangely enough, they let Zwei back into RWBY's room, without opening their door.

Weiss told her team she was out to see her sister for dinner, and probably would not be back at the dorm until next morning, claiming to stay at her apartment. What her team didn't know she got a bunch of spying equipment and waited.

Night vision binoculars. Pure black jumpsuit and ski-mask. Long distance microphone. Snacks. All provided by her new friends on the shady side of town.

 _Were they to your liking?_ Weiss looked at her scroll and smiled.

 _They were perfect. Good job Miltia. Tell Melanie the snacks were delicious._ Yang's stupid night out partying had one benefit, even if it also granted her that detention when she asked them to deliver some negligée for…. Reasons.

Weiss had seen enough, she descended from the tree and landed on the soft ground that composed Peter Port's belly…. Wait…

"EEEEEEEKKK!" Weiss shrieked as she jumped off the recumbent fat man. Weiss juggled with her body, trying to compose her limps to return to proper order as she was splayed apart standing up, rigid in the form of a disgusting modern art piece hidden away in the Schnee Estate.

The man laughed. "Out doing some late night snooping? Well, isn't that veerrry suspicious." Port's deep chortle echoed throughout the courtyard. "And what were you looking for Weiss?"

"Just…. Watching birds." Weiss replied, "also, how do you know that it's me? I'm covered in black and wearing a ski-mask!"

"I recognize ALL my students by their screams…." Port continued to joyfully bellow.

Weiss…. Didn't know how to respond to that.

"Well, don't stay up too late. I know I should enforce curfew but... well…. I broke it all the time at your age! TALLYHO!" Port ran off to an adventure that Weiss hoped never to understand.

She sighed as she walked back towards the campus, the night was cold but paled in comparison to the unholy frost of Atlas. She sighed as she pondered Nora and Jaune with Zwei in the middle of the night. She had a feeling that stupid elevator was involved too. It just didn't make sense. What would Jaune and Nora want with Zwei, and whatever it was, why keep it a secret? Were they afraid of Yang? Were they afraid of Ruby?

How did it involve the incident in Mulan?

Ockham's razor begged for it to just Nora and Jaune being fond of the dog, and that they take it recklessly on adventures because a cute puppy makes everything better, and while Weiss couldn't disagree, it was out of character for them to pointlessly endanger Zwei.

Something strange was going on. And she was going to get to the bottom of it.

She smiled at her own determination until she ran into the proud and wide back of a returning huntsman, smelling of Grimm blood and ego, wait….

"Salutations!" Port lifted his blunderbuss-axe and pumped the air with vigor, ignoring that Weiss just lightly collided with him.. "Just back from my nightly hunt! How are you doing Weiss?"

"Port? I….. I just saw you!"

"Don't be too surprised Weiss! People say I'm everywhere! Especially ever since I got this!" Port gestured to his belly in between guffaws. "So… what are you doing this late at night."

"I…. I told you! Bird watching!"

"You can watch birds this late at night? I thought the only bird at this hour would be a Nevermore!" Port laughed, "but what do I know about genteel hobbies more than a Schnee does? Well, enjoy it! I would chastise you for being out so late, but…. I don't care! You are capable of protecting yourself and I did it all the time! HI-HO!" Port jumped and ran off to yet another adventure that Weiss couldn't fathom.

The heiress shook her head from the confusion, and walked back into Beacon.

* * *

 **A/N: Long time, eh? Longer than y'all are used to. Holidays and my own schedule had made it hard to make time for this, and as much as I try, it's hard, and I feel the quality of each chapter is suffering because of it.**

 **Nevertheless, here's the next chapter. It's not as funny as the others, but this Arc is truly the transitional Arc between the events prior and to the finale. This story is finite, it has an end planned, and it's not that far off. It's not that close, but not that far off.**

 **Fave! Follow! Review! Go Bird Watching at Night!**


	29. The Truth is Zwei-vealed

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Her alarm went off, and Nora rolled out of bed. She pried her eyes opened, she convinced her limbs to move, she slammed her feet to the ground as she pulled herself up, cracking her back and other stiff joints before lightly jumping up to get the blood flowing, but not loud enough to wake Jaune.

She wasn't worried about Ren, he could sleep through anything. As for Pyrrha….

She wasn't there. Her bed was empty, and even more unusual, un-made. Normally Pyrrha was obsessive with neatness, a pride in her organization that represented her reputation as the graceful championess that she was. She couldn't control the snoring, but she could control her environment, but yet the blanket was practically flapping about like a scarf in a blizzard, the sheets drooping like a filthy ghost.

Nora sighed, got dressed, and went out the door. She had a BFF to find.

She at first checked the roof. She wasn't there. She checked the gym. She wasn't there. She checked the girls bathroom, and knocked on every stall door and screamed into every shower. Yang was there, but not Pyrrha.

Nora was about to give up until she stepped on a slippery surface near the cafeteria, and landed on her butt. "Oww…." She looked at her shoe and saw that she slipped on a colorful puddle of…. something. She touched her shoe, scooped up the unknown substance with her pointer finger, and licked it.

"Strawberry…. No…. Vanilla…. But wait! Chocolate as well…..

….It's Ice Cream. Neapolitan Ice Cream…."

Nora suddenly jumped up into a defensive stance, expecting something to strike her from above or from the side or from below…. Somehow. She didn't fully know how Neo worked, to be fair.

 _Oh wait, she hates ice cream._ Nora chuckled to herself and then looked forward, seeing that the ice cream drippings continued down a separate corridor, disappearing around a corner. Nora decided to follow.

At the end of the trail she was greeted by Pyrrha Nikos stuffing her face with a Neapolitan, banana-less sundae while sitting on a park bench outside. She wore her incognito outfit of a black hoody, black sweats, black shoes, and her tiara. It never worked.

"Hey Pyrrha." Nora started, and was greeted by the sudden arrival of a deep emerald-green glare "what's…. up?"

"You're going to the dance with Jaune!" Pyrrha replied with a threatening monotone. _Oh yeah…. I am…_

"OOOHHH YEAH I AM!" Nora suddenly jumped in the air, fist bumping the sky, and rocketing down to the ground. "I am…" Nora looked as Pyrrha's expression had yet to change, "…going with him as a friend, in order to avoid any…."

"Oh you don't tell me things like that Nora." Pyrrha stood up, the bowl of ice cream now being cradled beneath her right arm, "look, I'm doing the best I can. I have accepted…" Pyrrha blinked heavily, "…that Jaune doesn't see me that way, or at least not now, and that there's nothing I can do to change his mind other than to just be a good friend to him and nothing more. I still help him with training. I still listen to him. I still support him as our leader. And I do ALL OF THAT with a smile on my face!" She pointed at Nora, "and I try to ignore the thoughts that you have started to hang out with Jaune more, A LOT more. All most as much if not more than ME. And I try to not be paranoid and think that you had any influence over him. And then I hear that you and Jaune are going to the dance….

"….as friends, Pyrrha! Listen, Jaune would've asked you if he wasn't afraid…."

"That I'd fall in love with him again? Hah!" Pyrrha shuddered. "Maybe I would! Maybe I would be lost in the twirl of a night with my partner in my arms, dancing alongside him and realizing why I fell in love with him in the first place." Pyrrha then stepped closer, "but what makes _you_ any different?"

"Listen Pyrrha, I'd like to imagine that we are past 'fighting over boys' in our relationship." Nora offered up her hands in peace. "Besides, as I said…"

"Not together-together, I know." Pyrrha sighed, facing away from Nora, slouching her body downwards while still greedily holding on to her bowl of ice cream. "But… you said the same about Ren. What happened with that, anyway?"

"He doesn't see me that way Pyrrha. And considering how much of our lives we shared, he had plenty of time to think about it." Nora crossed her arms, removing her gaze from the back of Pyrrha's hood and towards the concrete. She closed her eyes, "I'm sorry I saw what you saw in Jaune. But I tried. I tried to ignore them. I even tried helping you get together, after Jaune told me his… concerns. I tried. But… there's only so much I can do in both helping you and ignoring myself. What else can I say…." Nora scratched the back of her head.

"I'm…. Noraaaaaa" she said weakly, providing limp jazz hands shaking lazily at the sides of her head.

"I mean…. It's not too much of a logical jump, you and Jaune's relationship." Pyrrha said lowly, "it started shortly after Mulan, you two were alone for a full weekend. You bonded and formed a deeper friendship…. Ren and I act so suspicious but…. When you think of it simply, it's not like there COULD be anything else there. I mean…. What? The DOG is somehow involved?"

Nora let out a loud, forced "HAH! Yeah…. That would be stupid, wouldn't it?"

Pyrrha once more sighed, and turned to face Nora. "Listen, I've tried forgiving Jaune for not loving me and…. I guess I'll have to try forgiving you too, just…." She sighed again, expelling so much air she was building a palace out of those sighs: A Ver-sigh, so to speak. "Give me time and a little space with…. this." Pyrrha motioned to her bowl of ice cream.

Nora felt the magnetic compulsion to hug; her go-to comforting technique, but…. She wasn't sure she was the hug Pyrrha was looking for. Nora instead stood still and nodded, "I understand."

"Thank you." Pyrrha quietly replied, before slinking off into another building to avoid detection as pathetically as the last time. Nora simply frowned a small frown, not in despair but in slight frustration. No matter what victories she had, there were always things that would just be fundamentally wrong.

"I'm going to find you a date, Pyrrha Nikos, and if I can't…." Nora shifted her posture into the proud warrior she knew she was, "I will FORCE JAUNE INTO A DRESS!"

* * *

Jaune woke up with a cold sweat, as if someone just…. Doomed him to do something embarrassing. "Nora…." He mumbled, as he rolled out of bed and got up to get dressed.

Ren continued sleeping away as Jaune got dressed. Nora and Pyrrha were gone, so he didn't even have to hide behind a towel, hide in the wardrobe, or-more realistically- go to the men's restroom to safely change. He got into his casual wear, it was the week-end, and walked out of the dorm, refreshed and ready to take on whatever the day had in store.

"So… you're muttering her name when you wake up now?" Jaune jumped up as Ren snuck up behind him.

"I thought you were asleep?"

"So was I…" Ren sighed, "but hearing Nora's name immediately makes me panic, so I woke up. But then I realized it was just you and that you were going to start changing, so I remained with my eyes closed."

"So you panicked yet made no sound?"

"I am an island of calm in a sea of insanity…." Ren let out a deep breath, "at least that's what I try to do."

"Fair enough," Jaune crossed his arms as he looked away from his team-mate. He shifted his eyes across the corridor to see if anyone was walking nearby. There were a couple, but nothing large crowd of clear gossipers. "So… has Nora…."

"Nora told me you and she are going to the dance that's in a couple months…. Or is it a month?"

"Month and a half,"

"Ah…." Ren nodded, "plenty of time for you two to prepare." Ren crossed his arms and leaned along the wall. He then shifted his head and looked at Jaune with a smirk, raising an eyebrow and slacking his head back. Jaune himself crossed his arms and leaned along the wall.

"Are you expecting me to say something?"

"You are taking the closest thing I have to actual family on a date, should you say something to me?"

Jaune pressed his back closer to the wall to stand upright. "It is just the dance, we're going as friends…."

"You know what Nora means by not being 'together-together,' right? I'm assuming she used that phrase, if she didn't then…."

"….she did…."

"…naturally she did, I'm usually right." Ren nodded in self-satisfaction. "Now, do you know what it means when she _insists_ that you're not 'together-together'?"

"…..I'm in an awkward position, aren't I?"

Ren sighed, "only if you make it awkward."

Jaune looked down, _it isn't what Ren's hinting at, is it?_ _But if it is…_

"You have my blessing, you know that, right? Because unless Nora's lost family just somehow shows up all of a sudden…."

Jaune and Ren look around, expecting some form of payoff for that line. It didn't come.

"….I'm all she has, and…. well, I trust you. Now, if you don't mind," Ren straightened his getup, "I have to talk to Cardin about something." He walked away, leaving Jaune alone in the inexplicably empty hallway. Jaune looked at his hands, noticing that he indeed wasn't holding onto Nora's weapon, despite being deep in thought.

 _I trust you._

It was an easier issue to think of than… the other thing Ren brought up. The fact that Ren, and Pyrrha, and possibly Team RWBY trusted him, with the exception of Ruby and Weiss at the moment…. Which was half of Team RWBY, to be honest.

He couldn't let it just be 'BY' and his team. He had to regain their trust, and earn it. They deserved the truth.

But then there was the promise he gave to Goodwitch…..

….Their enemies knew of them. Every time Jaune left Vale he was assaulted with a ridiculous Grimm-based attack. He was targeted by the White Fang along with Nora. His sister was sent upon him, and it's possible that someone in this very school was preparing to strike, right after coitus, of all things.

He had to tell his team why all this was happening. Why Nora and he were always in danger of some kind. Why they became…. Close.

As to what that closeness entailed didn't matter to him much at the moment, he had to set things right.

He had to beg Goodwitch to let him tell his team. It was the right thing to do.

* * *

"So they were out with Zwei?" Ruby asked, sitting across from Weiss, while they had the room alone.

"I saw it. How Zwei even left the room is a mystery, Nora and Jaune didn't pick him up. However, they did slip by the room late at night to deliver him back to us, yet somehow they didn't need to open the door." Weiss had a large tote bag of random equipment designed for spying. How she got a hold of it, Ruby didn't ask, but she didn't care. She only cared of the mystery ahead of her.

"So… what do we know?"

"We know Zwei was present in Mulan, and that Nora and Jaune brought them there. We know Zwei was possibly present with the Slaggeater attack. And now we know that those little rumored jaunts that Nora and Jaune take at night…"

"…heh. Jaunts. Jaune…." Ruby thought of her sister.

"FOCUS! Uhg, I think Yang made that joke before, anyway," Weiss shook her head and regained her own focus, "we also know that Jaune and Nora can disappear in that elevator, the same way Dr. Glass did. Whatever the definitive answer is, it is in that elevator."

"Or it's with Zwei himself," Ruby motioned to her cute little doggy, passed out on Blake's bed, where Zwei always resided when their faunus team-mate wasn't in the room.

"Well, we can't ask him, can we?" Weiss sighed. "I suggest we go to Goodwitch, the defeat of the Slaggeater was attributed to her by Umber, if you recall." Ruby nodded, attempting to follow every word her partner said. "She might have answers."

"Or she might not tell us…." Ruby pouted.

"That is a high possibility; however, we can't just rule it out and assume the worst." Weiss shrugged and hopped off her own bed. "Shall we go?"

"Of course!" Ruby hopped off the floor and joined her partner as they left the room and headed towards Goodwitch's office. She kept her hands entwined together behind her flowing red cloak as her shoes clacked along the percussive marble that stretched across the halls. She smiled, wistfully whistling a song to the beat of their footsteps.

Weiss turned her head to face her leader. "Ruby, could you please stop whistling, it's distract-OOF!" Weiss ran into a tall figure. "Watch where you're going you dunce!"

"Watch who you're speaking to…. Weiss." Ruby felt a shiver down her spine as Goodwitch eyed them with the ferocity she was accustomed to.

"Oh…. Professor Goodwitch… ma'am, I'm…." Weiss lunged back, practically running into Ruby, stammering and shaking, "I… actually wanted to speak with you about something important, something that I hope you have the answers to."

Goodwitch suddenly smiled, a…. sinister smile? "Oooh, really? Well then, come with me Weiss. Though I…." she patted her pockets, and then pointed at Ruby, "um… you. Could you run by my office and pick up my scroll? The door should be open. I rarely worry about thieves to be honest, should probably work on that."

"No probs Goodwitch!" Ruby saluted, "I'll get it to you in just a moment!" And she ran off in a flurry of red petals.

She arrived at Goodwitch's office in around 15 seconds, and immediately barged into the door to find…. Jaune and Goodwitch sitting down having what appeared to be an intense conversation.

Ruby recoiled, "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, but you where… I saw you, and with Weiss, and you said…. And me here, and unlocked, and….." Ruby looked everywhere, pointing in every which direction as she expressed her confusion, and she found her silver eyes attracted to one sight.

"Is that that Ninja's of Love series Blake loves to read?"

"Ms. Rose, what is the meaning of this?" Goodwitch firmly stated, "Mr. Arc and I are having an _incredibly_ important discussion right now."

"But…. I saw you down the hall, you were taking Weiss somewhere….. I….. we were going to ask you about Mulan, but you said you needed your scroll in your office."

"I'll have you know I never have my scroll off my person, but…. You said I was somewhere else… and took Weiss somewhere?"

"Yeah…. I…. did I do something bad?"

Jaune rose from his chair, "we need to find Weiss. NOW."

"Don't think I don't know that Mr. Arc, now, Ruby, lead us to where this doppelganger of mine was." Even Goodwitch looked worried, and then the sudden realization of what could possibly be _very_ bad settled into Ruby's mind.

"Oh… Oh Oum no!" She ran off to the spot where the faux Goodwitch was, without even really considering that Jaune or Goodwitch could feasibly keep up.

She ran to the spot, Weiss and "Goodwitch" were gone. Ruby scouted around in a short perimeter, checking every single classroom and corridor in the general vicinity.

"WEISS!" Ruby called out, and all she was responded with were a bunch of fellow students looking at her weird. Ruby huffed in frustration and continued running around Beacon, pushing people off if they didn't get out of the way of her tumultuous floral storm.

Jaune and Goodwitch eventually caught up, with Ruby started to slowly tear up. "I mean… I thought…. I should've noticed, the smile, she called Weiss 'Weiss,' not 'Ms. Schnee,' and…. and….."

"Look, it's probably nothing too bad," Goodwitch reassured, probably some stupid prank with some shapeshifting semblance, we don't know all the facts. Still…. I will notify Ozpin of what just transpired, if you wish, you can continue looking." Goodwitch then looked at Jaune, nodded with closed eyes, and left.

Jaune walked up to Ruby and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's just been a minute at most, she couldn't possibly have even run off campus by now, the only way that could happen is…."

Ruby instead turned around and dug her face into Jaune's torso, causing Jaune to blush slightly. "We live in a world where practically anything is possible… it's highly likely she's off campus!"

"But how? I mean, unless…." Jaune seemed to look up in thought, "okay, I might know someone who could pull a stunt like this."

"Who?"

Jaune sighed, "doesn't matter, she wouldn't do something like this…. I hope." He then paused, "still…. I also have something to tell you. And it might help." Jaune pulled out his scroll and pulled up Nora. "Come here, ASAP."

* * *

An Atlesian special unit Stealth Bullhead, designed to liftoff quietly and inconspicuously, was parked out in the Beacon docks. It looked just like a normal bullhead, but had a nice engine, sleek chair design, cup-holders, and a gaggle of White Fang troops: Adam among them.

He twiddled his thumbs, awaiting the "surprise" Sienna had promised him. He would've smiled if he wasn't busy scowling.

Suddenly, the bullhead opened, and someone appearing to be the deputy of Beacon walked in, holding what appeared to be….

"Look what I found!" 'Glynda' smiled as she held the heiress by the scruff of her neck.

Weiss's eyes registered what she saw, widened all of a sudden, and then made to kick the faux professor, only to be pushed into the bullhead, the ramp suddenly closing, and Adam pointing a thirsty Wilt at the heiress's face.

"I thought you would bring Blake or Jaune to me…." Adam mumbled

"Don't forget, I'm not here to provoke your bizarre fantasies or desire to save face," Sienna Kahn, master of disguise, leader of the White Fang, replied, "but when I scouted Beacon dressed as another professor," she pulled out a gigantic white fake mustache, "and I found a Schnee, I couldn't resist…." She chuckled a horrendous chuckle, that eventually graduated to a vile laugh.

"You… you…. My team will get me!" Weiss shrieked, "and if you kill me, you will sure as hell expect the FULL WRATH of the SDC raining upon you! My father and Winter could eviscerate BOTH of you!" She then turned to the random goons, "and they would still have time to stomp you all into the dirt from whence you came!"

"My my, how racist!" Sienna scowled, still dressed as Goodwitch. "We'll see how vocal you are after we INTERROGATE you at our Vale safehouse!"

"The whole point of interrogation is to make people vocal!" Weiss objected.

"Not our interrogations, since we already know all we need to know!" Sienna laughed once more as the bullhead stealthily speeded into the daylight sky.

Weiss mumbled, "I can't believe I fell for, 'I have a full report and recording on this specific non-suspicious bullhead'…. I RECOGNIZED the Atlas markings!"

"The search for a certain truth makes us vulnerable for the lies directly in front of us…. That's why I simply resort to violence." Sienna sneered as she walked up, ignored Weiss, and entered the enclosed cockpit to check on the pilot. Adam scowled and looked at the Schnee.

"If it's any comfort, I don't want anything to do with you. I used to have hatred towards the Schnees, now… it's just been consumed by the hatred I have for all of humanity. A Schnee is no less vile that the random bastards I see not living in fear walking down the streets."

"Is that what you want?" Weiss spat, "for us to live in fear?"

"No…" Adam leaned in, "I don't want you living at all." Adam then stood up, pulled out his journal, and wrote that down. He was going to use that later, that's for sure.

Adam sneered as he sat down and thought his usual thoughts. He wondered if his thoughts should ever be published, due to how amazing his thoughts were. His thoughts on love. His thoughts on truth, his thoughts on the bullhead being shot out of the sky and…. wait…..

"WHAT THE HELL!" Adam screamed as he suddenly saw a gaping hole where a wall was. Air sucked out violently as the ship itself careened like a drunk trapeze artist.

Weiss suddenly started levitating, a ball of light surrounding her, as she was rocketed out of the bullhead, as Adam dramatically screamed "No." Sienna would later punish him for only screaming "no," rather than doing something.

* * *

Weiss splatted upon a plain of grass, feeling the wind leave her lungs. She coughed violently as she tried to regain the air she so dearly deserved and wanted.

Right when she was about to inhale, a sloppy lick from a dog dragged along her face, making her sputter and choke again.

"Wow! That was impressive Zwei!" Weiss heard Nora's voice say, "what a great way to debut your powers to everyone here! Which is only us and Ruby for some reason!"

"Why are the docks empty?"

"Duh, it's national indoors day!"

"…it is?"

"I honestly have no idea, I mean, when I talked to Pyrrha outside we were the only ones there."

"You had a talk with Pyrrha?"

"Are you surprised?"

"Man… I… should look for her…"

"She needs her space. Don't worry about it."

"EXCUSE ME!" Weiss pushed herself up after finally regaining the ability to breath. "Will ANYONE explain what the hell just happened?"

Nora and Jaune looked at each other. "Uh…."

"You know what, fine. Don't explain why I'm suddenly here and Zwei is here and…. wait….. Ruby's here?"

"Oh, yeah! She's right over there!" Nora pointed to her side, which guided Weiss's gaze to Ruby….

Who was bug-eyed and salivating with an expression of wonder.

"Woof!"

Weiss looked down at the dog. "When Ruby regains her sense of time and place, we are going to have a VERY important conversation with you!"

* * *

 **A/N: Shortest chapter yet, so apologies. Anyway, I only watched the first three episodes of Volume 4, basically intending to binge it when it's all out. Screw cliffhangers except for the inevitable one at the end of the Volume, amirite? Still, I keep checking to make sure Sienna Kahn hasn't been fully revealed. Until then… instead of doing what seems reasonable like many fics that proposed a reasonable yet inaccurate version of Qrow before his reveal in the show, I decided to go, "fuck it, Sienna is a weird-ass master of disguise." Why?...**

 **…..Just so I can make a Star Trek: Into Darkness reference…. I never said I was going to be high-brow with this story…..**

 **Anyway, Fave! Follow! Review! Force Your Friend into A Dress!**


	30. Expositional Dia-dog

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

Yang and Blake sat down on their beds, listening to what Ozpin had to say. He stood in front of their closed door, asking to speak with them privately. Yang was at first nervous that she was finally going to be punished for the whipped cream incident, but the subject never came up.

Instead, it was much, much worse.

"Someone dressed up as Goodwitch, and may or may not have kidnapped Weiss." Ozpin said once again, as he opened with that line, but after going into great detail, felt the need to say it that line one more time. "The real Goodwitch is on the case, as well as every professor here. They will not leave the premises, I assure you."

Yang had no words, so she just bowed her head and nodded. She felt like she should get mad, let her eyes go red and unleash hell on someone who would dare hurt Weiss, but…. Instead she shivered. Being hurt was one thing…. But being kidnapped! That was terrifying, and with someone who apparently looked like Goodwitch enough for Weiss of all people to be fooled.

"There's only one person who could do this…." Blake said, bitterness leaking into every word. She stood up from her bed, and bowed her head, marching towards nothing in particular as she just moved quietly in a direction.

"You know who's responsible?" Ozpin asked, raising an eyebrow. Yang herself was curious, about to scream at her to tell them, because screaming made her feel better, but then Blake beat her to it…

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNNNN-oh look, they're back." Blake suddenly returned to her deadpan self as Weiss and Ruby waltzed into the room as if nothing bad had ever happened, though Ruby looked…. Dazed.

"Ruby!" Yang cried as she jumped out of the bed and wrapped her arms around her sister. True, it wasn't Ruby who was reported "potentially-in-danger," but it was always nice to see Ruby after everything worked out in the end.

"Hiiii," Ruby drawled, her breath receding from her body, "Zwei is so cool now."

"What? I mean…. Yeah, Zwei is cool, but…." Yang looked down and saw the adorable corgi near Ruby's feet, panting and slobbering like the first day she met it. "Is there…. Something I should know?"

"Yes." It was Weiss who said that, even though she looked incredibly tired. "But not now, I want to sleep, something about being taken hostage by the White Fang and then having to listen to Nora talk directly afterwards really builds my fatigue." Weiss walked over to her bed and lunged her body on it, planking upon her pillow as she snored her incredibly polite snores.

"Exposition is so boring, even when it's about interesting stuff," Ruby said dreamily, "I'm sleeping to…" a flurry of rose petals brought her up to the dangerously dangling bed she slept in every night, and she continued to mewl like a tiny kitten in her sleep.

Ozpin, Blake, and Yang looked at the sleeping forms in the room of Team RWBY, and none of them said a word, in fear of waking them up. At least, until Yang realized something.

"It's only four in the afternoon."

"And Weiss said she was kidnapped by the White Fang." Blake then walked out into the hallway, and made her way to the public bathroom.

She continued screaming "Kahn" for five minutes.

* * *

Nora and Jaune returned to their room as RWBY was distracted by the arrival of their own team-mates, opening the door and closing it so quietly that even Ozpin didn't notice… at least he didn't care to notice.

Ren was in the room, observing a stack of lien gleefully, shuffling the card-like bills with a large smile on his face. At least, the smile was large relative to Ren's usual display of emotion. When Jaune entered the room, he immediately removed the lien from view, stashing it in a pocket of undetermined location, and stood at rigid attention shrinking the smile to his usual, calm façade.

Nora eyed him suspiciously, but returned her gaze to realize that Pyrrha still had to return from her ice-cream induced exile.

"Hey Ren, how are you doing?" Jaune asked casually, going towards his desk to crash into the chair, lifting his feet to rest at the top of his bed.

"I'm fine." Ren replied simply. "And you?"

"You know, every time you read or watch something that involves someone giving someone else a lot of exposition, and you think 'wow, it would suck to be those people, forced to listen to someone go on and on like some kind of portly professor…."

"…you mean…" Ren realized the joke was too easy, "…never mind."

"…but today I learned something. The people who have to _listen_ to the exposition, all they have to do is listen. But the person giving it," Jaune raised his finger to the ceiling to emphasize the concept of making a point, "has to actually _present_ it, remember all the crucial details, weather through all the questions, and somehow make it clear and not too long, otherwise they tire themselves out." Jaune sighed as the upward hand careening towards his face, and slid it off

"Well I helped." Nora wasn't going to claim that Jaune _didn't_ take the brunt of the monologue, but she had to give her inputs too!

"Doesn't matter, I never want to give exposition again." Jaune sighed as he then slumped his head into the desk. Nora smiled piteously at the leader, and made her way towards him and patted him on the back.

"What… was it about, may I ask?" Ren broke the silence.

"OUM DAMMIT!" Jaune jerked out of the chair and stormed out to the bathroom to scream something. At first, he seemed to scream the amorphous sounds of "ah," but do to adjacent peer pressure, it seemed to reform to the word, "Kahn," whatever that meant. Nora giggled, but then spared a glance at the confused Ren.

"It's a long story." Nora sighed, "but it's something we should've told you a long time ago, so…." Nora sighed, and was about to give her long-winded, probably muddled explanation, only for Ren to raise his hand.

"We should probably wait for Pyrrha," Ren stated firmly, "if this story causes you distress, it's probably best to get the largest appropriate crowd to minimize its telling."

"Well, it's not distressing, it's just…." Nora scratched the back of her head, "….how do I put this? Strange, confusing, and laced with humor that's trying too hard."

Ren chuckled, "I read your fanfiction Nora, if it's anything like that I can handle it."

"We don't!..." Nora hushed her voice suddenly as she aggressively covered Ren's mouth with her hand, "…we don't ever mention I did that. Ever."

 _Knock knock knock!_

A vicious rapping at the door caused both Nora and Ren to jump, though to be fair to Ren he jumped because Nora was holding him tightly and she herself jumped. She moved over and opened the door to reveal a cross-armed Yang.

"Okay, Nora." Yang tapped her foot rhythmically as she remained outside Team JNPR's room. "Can you explain why Weiss says there's something she needs to tell us, but is too tired because 'listening to Nora is tiring.'"

"Weiss said that…. I didn't even say much!" Nora gawked in dismay. "I can't believe she thinks of me that way, the shame! Thank you for bringing this to my attention." Nora moved to slam the door, but Yang met it with an outstretched palm, her resounding strength stopping the door with a mighty….

 _Knock_

"So how about you try me, and maybe I can see if you are tiring to listen to? Or if Weiss is being Weiss and is overreacting?" She shrugged her shoulders and provoked in herself an aggressive glare, "let's just say I'm really curious."

"So am I." Blake then showed up besides Yang, "I have benefitted from your strange operation, but I'm not just someone who is satisfied by not having answers for long… hold on." Blake pulled out a paper bag and brought it up to her face. "KAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNN!" The bag inflated as the shrieks consumed the partial vacuum. She then removed it from her face. "Sorry, I thought I was done…. I think I am now though."

"But you're not certain?" Ren showed up at Nora's side in the entry way.

"Sienna KAAAHHHN," Blake covered her mouth for a moment, "…she invokes a lot of emotions in me."

"Enough that you feel the need to scream her name in anger at all times?" Ren challenged.

"Hey! We're getting off topic here," Yang raised her arms in protest, "let's return focus to what the heck Nora's been hiding!"

"Yes, like how she attracts men!" All members of the party turned to see Pyrrha returning, an empty bowl smudged only by traces of remaining ice cream under her arm. "She clearly has skills that extend beyond what she told me!"

"Uh…." Nora had no idea how to respond to that, so she looked to Ren for help.

"If she had some kind of secret skill Pyrrha, we probably would've been dating a long time ago." Ren reasoned, "….but her and Jaune's relationship isn't what we're talking about."

"Well…." Blake mused, "we KAAAAAAHN't say that, really. Whatever they told Weiss and Ruby required both of them to tell."

"Okay, seriously?" Yang turned back to her partner, "how often are you going to scream that name?"

"I'm doing the best I ca- I mean- am able, okay?" Blake objected.

"Okay, hold it!" Nora stomped her foot, bringing all attention back to her, focusing all of her attention to bring all into order. She had half a mind to go grab Magnhild and slam it on a wall, debris and detention be damned. However, she didn't have to….

Because Yang and Blake left the door to their room open. Which meant the dog could walk out, and since the distance from the public bathrooms and Team JNPR's room wasn't that far…..

Her stomp dictated the dog to release what Nora could only call a telepathic gravitational shift wave, which lifted all people in the doorway, except her, into the air, floating delicately, with only Yang hitting her head as she stood directly underneath the doorframe. Yang looked to almost get angry but she was already confused to feel anything other than the sheer essence of "WTF."

Nora looked at Zwei, who harmlessly panted on the ground that now only he and she shared. She smiled, patted the dog, and called it a good boy. She then looked up at her friends, who were either too stunned to move, or were Yang, who now had recovered enough to start flailing in the air.

"What the Hell is going on!" Yang shrieked. "And why are we the only people in this hallway!"

"I had a feeling this would happen, and quarantined the hallway to everyone but Pyrrha." Ozpin stated as he casually walked into view, then walked away.

"I was wondering why there was a wet floor sign with a piece of paper taped to it that read, 'you can only pass if you are or have ever been attracted to your partner who has significantly less skill than you; yes that means you Pyrrha.'"

"He could've just wrote, 'only Pyrrha…'" Ren sighed.

"So, now that I have your attention, and since Jaune is still in the bathroom, I guess I will get started." She looked up and smiled at her captive audience, three girls and a guy floating gracefully above her head, with only Yang flailing and failing to fall or even move with the exception of her gross gesticulations. "So…. What's your favorite fairy tale?"

* * *

Jaune washed his face aggressively, and looked into the mirror. He knew that part of his revulsion at the prospect of explaining himself was the sheer amount of effort required to do so, it was also the fact that now: he realized that he didn't.

It was a fun secret for just him and Nora, but it was more than that. It was a secret that constantly put them in harm's way. Adam came for them, the Grimm came for them, maybe even Cinder was coming for them, assuming that Cinder was actually dangerous.

Even his sister was brought out of the woodwork to hunt them down, thankfully she stopped due to familial ties. However, Jaune suddenly worried that informing Weiss and Ruby would unintentionally put them in more danger. Indeed, he used it to save Weiss, but that was the White Fang, an organization that would've gone for her anyway.

If they were targeted, possibly from that Cinder woman, who as he thought gazed at him through the mirror dressed in a pink pant suit, he would never be able to forgive…. Wait….

"I'm sorry, I thought this was my room, hence, I am dressed like this…" Cinder grasped the folds of the suit jacket that covered her mammary glands, and squeezed, following her hands down to her hips, whistling as she did.

"…. Aren't the transfer dorms in an entire building entirely?" Jaune wondered. "Also, is the bathroom sign…"

Cinder sighed, before striding forward. "We can discuss how impossible it is to confuse the man's bathroom with my room some other time, possibly over dinner, you dressed in a suit like me… or maybe the birthday variety?.."

"Oookay!" Jaune jumped as he backed off further away from the smirking seductress. "Look, I appreciate it, you're a…. beautiful woman…. But…..I…." he was interrupted by her zooming forward to slowly place a finger on his lips.

"If I am beautiful, what other reason do you have to resist?" She raised an eyebrow. "Is it that Nora girl?"

 _Is it that Nora- NO! It's because this Cinder chick is creepy and potentially evil! But…. Would I have fallen for it if…._ Jaune, like many people, was not truly in tune with his emotions. He felt them, indeed, but emotions came without thought; without intention. When he watched that recent _Pictar_ movie that featured the emotions being autonomous beings in a person's mind; he bought it, because he knew that while his thoughts and actions were his own, his emotions were something that just didn't cooperate by his will.

His feelings for Nora weren't something he would choose, should he have them. It's the same reason Weiss wasn't obligated to fall in love with him the same way he wasn't obligated to fall in love with Pyrrha, it's not like they could have enough control to fulfill such a silly "obligation." So, ignoring the fact that Jaune would choose to love Nora or not, Jaune started thinking deeply about it.

It was more than just the camaraderie, and the fact they'd been working together in this absurd adventure simply caused them to interact. If time spent together determined romantic attraction, then Ren and Nora by this virtue alone would be-and should be- the romantic coupling on the team. But it wasn't time… it was chemistry, the value such time provided….

…and that chemistry was for some reason present. Nora's bombastic attitude was a shining day to him with every interaction. He would smile, he would laugh, he would feel protected with the strength that would destroy an entire army that was somehow only experienced through terrifying hugs. Her wisdom that was hidden in her silly attitude, her confidence, her smile, her….. her compassion.

What did he provide? Did Nora feel the same thing he did? Was there…..

"Hellooooo, are you awake?" Cinder's hand waved in front of Jaune's face… no, it wasn't her hand, it was her leg.

Before Jaune could once again yelp in shock, the leg shifted to the side and impaled the wall, putting into full view the pink pant leg that curved from Cinder's fully covered pelvis. Her face leaned in closer.

"Well…. maybe if my sight is tantalizing, imagine my tou-WWAAAAAAHHHH!"

Cinder was immediately thrown into the ceiling of the bathroom, ramming right into the marble, a crack forming around her impact.

Jaune didn't bother to ask if she was okay until he started sprinting out the door, only to have the door swing into his face.

"Cindy! I am still not certain if that warning sign applied for you… oh hey Jaune!" Penny smiled as Jaune rubbed his head. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"….in the men's bathroom next to my dorm room?"

"Well it's not the first place I'd think to find you!" Penny rationalized. "Also, on the ground, my weight stabilizers prevented me from being lurched upwards but I certainly felt it. Also Cindy is damaged by it too! Don't worry Cindy, I'll help you get down!"

"For the umpteenth time in CINDER, not CINDY!" Cinder roared from the ceiling.

"I'll, let you do that." Jaune walked around Penny and let the two girls inhabit the men's restroom. He wasn't going to object, use whatever damn restroom you want, he generally thought. It was rude to stare and actively search for privates anyway in there.

He walked down the hall to see that people had congregated around the Team JNPR, hovering over Nora as she gesticulated wildly about something. He had a theory what it was about.

"So basically, a bunch of Deathstalkers showed up and- oh hi Jaune!" Nora turned back, waving and smiling in a way that made Jaune feel warm and fuzzy inside, but he put that away for another time.

"Hey Nora…. How's-"

"You let Zwei off on one of the frickin' LAUNCHERS used for INITIATION!" Yang roared from above, swinging at the air.

"I hope to keep her up there for the entire story, don't you?" Nora winked, and Jaune laughed.

He had almost forgotten that feet away, a robot was trying to peel a seductress off of a ceiling.

* * *

Sienna Kahn walked to and fro, sighing all the while. She cracked her knuckles and she squinted her eyes. She craned her back forward, and peered straight into Adam's mask, displeased.

"I go the cockpit for ONE second, and a SCHNEE, a fucking SCHNEE hostage, was taken from us!" She slammed the wall, reverberating the entire empty warehouse. "I didn't follow along with your connections to that Cinder lady and whatever is beyond her for you to FAIL ME LIKE THAT!"

"I'm sorry… .I'm so sorry," Adam wept like a baby, and why wouldn't he?

Sienna dressed up as Blake for this scolding.

"No wonder she left you, you're pathetic. A little boy who can only do damage because of his magic little sword. Other than that all the edge he has is in his mind."

Adam curled up into a fetal position and rocked back and forth, asking for her to forgive him. To take him back. To accept him. Sienna felt her lips curl evilly.

"No matter, I have another plan. All this time I've spent trying to manage the White Fang, I forgot the joy of turning the entire outfit into extremism in the first place, doing some damage!" She walked behind her, and pulled out her weapon.

Adam gasped as she revealed it, and almost shrunk back, as if it was going to be used on him. She wouldn't though, she was too kind for that. Adam let her down now but he normally satisfied her. Sienna looked at her tool of destruction, and tingled at the idea of using it again.

It was a gun, duct taped to another gun. She never went to huntsman school, and while her weapon appeared lame to the layman, it was sufficient.

She loaded the two chambers, and was excited to finally get some action she'd been so desperately wanting for….

* * *

"Why are you sending me?"

"Cinder isn't answering, and I don't feel like sending out the Grimm to try to get her attention, with the walls not breached yet." Salem crossed her arms and walked out to her window, gazing at the hell-scape below. "As for you specifically, well, I don't need her murdered and I don't need her schmoozed to, I just need someone with some common sense to talk to her."

Hazel nodded. "But what if Ozpin recognizes me?"

"Then greet her outside the school, you can't tell me she will only hang out within those walls. Have the White Fang send her a message, from what I understand we still have their alliance within Vale."

"Very well…." Hazel turned to walk away, "…and if I run into the harbingers of the beast?"

"Kill them."

* * *

 **A/N: Guess what? I actually watched all of Volume 4, like I said I would! Now, naturally *cough Ren's Origin cough* are discordant with the story here, but…. Heh, whatever, it's like how my Sienna Kahn is definitely NOT going to be canon Sienna Kahn… unless if I'm right, which would be strange, considering they already introduced someone who could fill in that void for the White Fang arc. No spoilers for my non-caught up readers though outside of these little hints. However, later chapters may include references to things that happen in Volume 4: characters introduced, humorous references, grand plot details, the like.**

 **Anyway, I know, the chapters have been short. I know, the plot doesn't seem to go anywhere anymore. I know… I know…. I went into this arc with some of the ideas, but then I started writing and realized I had no idea where to take these ideas. I honestly feel like I'm letting y'all down…..**

 **So I'm going to a NEW arc! One that will conclude with the moment you've all been waiting for… THE DANCE! The hallmark climax of many a romantic subplots. Just a short little chapter to get that going, and I hope that I'll actually get started on the next chapter right away! Either that or another chapter of "Pickpocket," I'm not that reliable of a writer anymore, I've gotten much more busy in real life. But I still intend to finish these…. Even if I probably won't ever finish Weiss vs. Atlas.**

 **So, Fave! Follow! Review! KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHNNNN I make another joke about that? Yes, Yes I KAAAAAAAAHN!**


	31. A New Leash on Life

**A/N: I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

It took a solid fortnight (which Hazel recently learned meant two weeks) but the man finally arrived at Vale proper. He sighed when he got off the train, dusted his clothes because that looked intimidating, and strode out of the station. He was going to meet with Cinder to figure out what her radio silence was all about.

He didn't care for Cinder. The only reason she was in on their plan was because of her ambition and because she was a woman. Watts, Tyrion, and himself couldn't inherit the Maiden powers, and Salem?... No matter what Tyrion said Salem was no "lady," and was much too old anyway.

So yes, that was all Cinder was: a vessel to harbor the maiden power that would be oh so useful for their plans. Yet no one had the heart to tell her just how simple her purpose was. At least: Tyrion was too insane, Watts too diplomatic, and him….

He didn't care to rain on her parade, as long as he didn't have to speak with her. Cinder could talk one's ear off about herself, and he made that mistake once when he, out of politeness, complimented her dress.

 _It is designed not only for mobility and defense but also to distract all the groveling, drooling fools with my milky white legs…._

Hazel liked women with muscles…. And maybe some damn knowledge of when to shut up. He was only distracted by his annoyance.

He grunted as he exited the station and laid witness to the massive Valean kerfuffle that flooded the streets. All the people talking and living on in their insipid lives. He felt no pity for them for their impending doom. The dragon hiding beneath the mountain. The maiden powers somewhere within Beacon. His wicked dropkicks.

He cracked his knuckles, and then lifted his legs to crack his feet. People gave him strange looks, but he didn't care. The people wearing those strange looks would be dead in less than a year.

He then pulled out his scroll:

 _"Cinder, meet me at:"_ Hazel looked up to search for a place: he was in the mood for food. Maybe breakfast food, something sweet, it's been a while….

He found one. _"Park Pancake Palace. Urgent."_

* * *

Ruby stared at Zwei. Zwei stared at Ruby. Weiss stared at Ruby staring at Zwei. Yang stared at Zwei staring at Ruby. Blake read some literary porn.

It had been a…. a…. what was the word? Weiss taught Ruby this word….. _Sore-Kite? No. Coors-Lite? No, that isn't a word, that's a trademark._

 _Oh yeah!_ It had been a porn-dyke since Ruby learned of Zwei's powers, since they all had learned of Zwei's powers, and…. well, Ruby had to admit it: she was underwhelmed. Not only were the powers inactive whenever Jaune and Nora weren't in the direct vicinity together, the truth didn't lead to some massive conspiracy that Ruby was hoping for. All it was was some weapon that the school didn't want anyone knowing about, and so Jaune and Nora were told not to tell anyone about it.

Whoop-de-flippin' do! She was hoping for something more complicated, something with multiple threads that lead to more questions, then those questions would lead to more questions, until she discovered the horrifying truth and then unleashed hell upon the world, and FINALLY re-enacted that scene from that movie she loved so much!

You know, the one where they travel back in time and meet some silver-haired teenager who-

"Is that all you're going to do today?" Blake asked laconically, as her eyes shifted for a mere second from her book. "You heard Nora's story; I even read the fairy tale. You can't will it to do anything spectacular unless Jaune and Nora are around."

"And it sucks! Because it's soooo awesome!" Ruby gave up staring at her dog and started staring at the ceiling, which also woefully lacked magical powers. "I wish they would just give a demonstration, but Nora and Jaune refuse to do anything 'unless they need to.'"

"That was more of Jaune. Nora….. well, if she could do it on her own…" Blake mused.

"Thank Oum she can't, this school would be a crater." Weiss nodded

"Well, I know it's not all I'm doing today!" Yang stood up, bounced a bit on the balls of her feet. "I'm going to go work out! Punch some bags, do some cardio, check out the hot boys…"

"It's the same 'hot boys' in there every day, Yang." Blake remarked.

"They are at least 'real,' unlike the ones in your books." Yang winked, as Blake groaned.

"I don't read these to fantasize about boys, I read these for realistic romances."

"….Realistic?"

"There is ALWAYS room for fantasy in realism!"

"….uh…" Weiss racked her brain to see if Blake's statement made any form of sense.

"Y'know what?" Ruby resigned, picking herself back up. "I'm going to study for that test next week, and maybe I'll work out as well, later in the day."

"Good idea," Weiss said, "it's not like anything ridiculous is…. you know what, I'm not going to jinx it."

"It's probably too late," Blake resigned, "still, it's not like it's something we have to involve ourselves in. We could just take it easy, relax, and be normal school girls. We live our own lives." Blake sighed happily into her book. "We are in KHA-" she cleared her throat "-control."

* * *

Nora, despite what many would say, valued herself to have excellent self-control. Yes, she was very loose with said self-control, but everything she did was from a mental decision, an abstract calculation, then equated into action. She saw something: if cute, then hug. If friend, then greet loudly. If stranger, introduce self loudly. If enemy, break legs. If enemy whose legs are already broken, break arms. If enemy is paraplegic, send letter of condolences with also a non-lethal get-better smash-to-the-face.

And that was only the most basic. Nora was nuanced in the art of persuasion, such as dragging Ren to her shopping trip. Agreed, it was mostly puppy-eyes and intimidation, but it worked. She kept her stomach in during the bullhead ride, something Jaune can't do without magic dog powers, and she arrived with a strict budget and plan ahead for this incredibly important shopping trip.

However, only when she entered the store, looked at the dresses, saw the pieces she loved with price-tags she absolutely HATED, and realized she forgot to beg Weiss for money…. She panicked.

"Oum my Monty Ren! Oum my Monty Ren! What am I doing out here? How foolish was I to not prepare this far!"

"The dance is a month away Nora…" Ren deadpanned, her sardonic rock of reality as always.

"You don't understand!" Nora stopped in front of Ren, with no dress picked out, "THIS is the night I finally decide to reveal my feelings to Jaune…."

"Don't you mean night of the dance?..."

"The dance is ALWAYS present in my mind! Hence, THIS is the night!" Nora worriedly reasoned.

"That's not how logic works…" Ren sighed, "but… that's how you work…."

"And I can't reveal my feelings AT A DANCE" Nora kneeled down, extending her arms as if asking for a gift from Luna himself, "while doing what I normally do! Just get my cute little dress and stand around like a silly little girl! I have to be Beautiful!" Nora jumped, and then placed a hand on her hips, following something Cinder did all the time, "Sexy!" she then jumped into another pose, arms placed akimbo and fists digging into her torso, "Confident!"

"Listen, if Jaune feels the same way, he won't care…."

"What if he doesn't Ren?" Nora grabbed her friend and rammed his nose against hers. Earlier this would have sent tremors and blushes throughout all of Nora, but now was not the time to recall previous attractions! "What if he just likes me like a friend, like you do!" Ren blushed slightly, "Like he does to Pyrrha! Like Ozpin does to Goodwitch! Like Blake does to Adam…."

"I don't think Blake sees Adam as a 'friend….'"

"Enemy with Benefits then!"

"….uhh," Ren looked both left and right, before distancing himself slightly, "Nora, calm down, you're acting more irrationally than you usually do…."

"UHG! You're right! I start to panic and then I blow it!... AND NOT LIKE THAT! BLOW IT AS IN NO ROMANTIC THINGS WILL RESULT!"

"Would you actually want the other version to- never mind, don't answer that question…"

"MAYBE I WOULD!"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION!"

The intercom in the store buzzed, " _can you please have your 'teenage to young-adult freak-outs' in the designated area for such things?"_

Ren's eyes widened, "there's a designated….." Nora ignored Ren's disbelief as she turned around to see signs pointed to a wall that had a door, clearly entering a soundproofed area of the store. The sign read, _"If you're freaking out."_

The idea of going to a glorified timeout corner was enough to bring Nora to her senses. She sighed, cracked her neck, walked out of the store, and released her frustration by unleashing her fury to a trashcan in the alleyway.

"GAAAAHHHH!" Nora yelled as the inanimate trash can wished for a death it would never receive.

For what felt like years of fury, Nora suddenly felt Ren's hand on her shoulder, massaging it slightly. Nora finally let out air that wasn't formed in a scream, and tensed her fists.

"I just… I'm nervous and I want everything to be flawless for him…"

"I know…. Nora…. I know…." Ren sighed, then perked up, "you know what would clear your head?"

"What?..."

Ren motioned to one of Nora's favorite places. And Nora couldn't help but channel all the fear and frustration into a large amount of girlish excitement

"Park Pancake Palace!" Nora squeed as she hugged Ren. "You always know how to cheer me up!"

"No offense Nora, but learning about your pacification via pancakes is like…. The first thing anyone learns about you."

Nora ignored Ren's remark as she strode towards the restaurant. She hadn't been there in a good….. like, a fortnight and a half? What did that even mean? She shook her head, and decided to bury that deep within like her angst about Jaune.

To Nora, it was most important to get the dance right, and while she was generally averse to coming up with plans, improvisation being a tactic she was most familiar with, she felt it important to have one in such a potentially monumental moment. That's why she was starting a full month beforehand, for if she was slow with coming up with plans, she planned to have enough time to plan her plan, given she granted herself enough disci-plan. It was the ex-plan-ation she gave to herself, at least.

But Ren was right, she needed plancakes…. She meant pancakes.

She sat down, the waitress already knowing her order and Ren's, simply nodding and going to her station and typing it in. Nora sat down, enveloped the entire sitting area, and ranted continuously about her worries to Ren. No matter how repetitive and redundant it was, Ren listened to it well. He was good like that.

"….Uhg! It all started with Zwei, I feel like. Ever since we were astrally matched together to fulfill some prophecy, I guess we just started bonding, and anyone I bond to I just…. Magnetize myself to! I can't help it! I can't just think of any boy who gets close to me as a potential love interest!" Nora lamented as she gestured to Ren, "I mean…. YOU! The first boy who ever gave me the time of day, and I got a crush on you!"

Ren sighed, "Nora, you just love easier than most."

Nora glared.

"Not saying your easy! It's just…. You let yourself feel strongly about things more than other people. It just happens."

"Does that mean my love is foolish?" Nora groaned as she slammed her head into the table. She felt Ren pat her shoulder.

"No. It just means you feel things, and you don't hide it to yourself often."

With that, the table fell to silence, and Nora wished for her mind clearing sustenance to arrive. She peered into the table, weaving images into the different streaks within the wooden surface. She carved imaginary kingdoms that had no romance within them, just adventure and simple conflicts. Nora was scared, and she knew it, and she also knew that the best way to calm herself was to distract herself from such fears.

Before the pancakes arrived, however, a certain flamboyant young girl named after a prehistoric currency sashayed down into the booth, and made a loud introduction of herself.

"HELLLLOOOOOO!" Penny announced proudly, sidling herself up to Nora. "How are you, friends?!"

"Hey Penny!" Nora exclaimed, scooching over in the booth to give space to the fellow excitable-eccentric girl. "Ready for an apple rematch?"

"You know I would love to, but I've been told to mitigate my apple summoning while out in public." Nora raised an eyebrow but thought not to question it. "Besides, it would get in the way of exchanging the words to see how we both are developing as people! Collecting information from one another to use at another time to showcase our bond and possibly control you!"

It was Ren's turn to raise an eyebrow, as Nora just had her mouth agape. After what felt like a fortnight, Nora finally spoke; "uh….. that's…. not why people get to know one another…. They…. Uh…." To be fair, Nora had been conversing with Jaune to get specifics on his ideal date, though through subtlety.

 _"Jaune, what is your opinion on the Slothtrot?"_

 _"Jaune, is moonlight on a balcony most romantic, or lowlight on the dancefloor."_

 _"So, what's considered 'appropriate' physical contact for a first date Jaune? Especially if two people know each other well enough beforehand. I'm asking for a friend."_

Jaune was naturally oblivious enough to not see through Nora's definition of subtlety. Or distracted due to homework. School was sometimes a blessing.

"Is that Atlas's philosophy, Penny?... It's Penny, right?" Nora realized Penny was only mentioned in passing to the poor boy…. You know, Ren would be good for Penny…. Ren calmed HER down, maybe he needed a new project to focus on. A new woman to tame. She would be jealous if it weren't for the fact her mind was focused on a certain blonde knight.

"Oh no, Atlas's philosophy is 'don't communicate, boss around.' I've been taking advice from her!" Penny pointed to a dreadfully familiar lady sitting with a large, unfamiliar man. Nora felt herself grip the table with renewed aggression.

"Cinder…." Nora growled, "…you're hanging out with her?"

"Oh yes! Dr. Glass's orders! He wants me to gain intel… so, naturally, I asked Cinder how to do that, and for some reason, she LOVES talking about her expertise in that field! Almost stops her from harping on me to leave her alone!"

Nora groaned as she slouched in the booth. She knew Cinder was evil, but had no proof outside of her obvious evil attitude, which, sadly, was protected under law. No matter how obvious a villain you are, you aren't classified a villain until you DO something villainous, and Cinder…..

All she did was probably break the dress code, and various forms of classroom etiquette, such as not licking a certain blonde boy's ear in History class, or 'accidentally' entering the male's locker room while Jaune was changing. Nora kept an eye on her alright, throughout the two weeks, just as Neo suggested. She did nothing worth arresting her, but she did enough to suggest what Neo said was true.

Cinder wanted to do the bedroom tango. The nighttime wrestle. The inward massage. The sloppy stack of pancakes. With Jaune. And THAT was unacceptable. She would have to beat her to it!...

Though maybe more slowly, what was that fairytale, something about a turtle… and a rabbit…. And…..

"Why are you following that Cinder person around, Penny?" Ren returned Nora from her…. thoughts…. And towards the excitable, if slightly stiff moving, girl sharing a booth with them.

"Because the good Doctor told me to!"

"I mean…." Ren sighed, "…why did Dr. Glass insist you follow Cinder around and… 'gain intel.'" He stealthily looked over at the booth across the restaurant, "and who's she talking to?"

"Oh, I now understand BOTH your queries, and can verify that…. I don't know." Penny shrugged. "Probably has something to do with something I'm not allowed to talk about."

Ren and Nora looked at Penny, deciding that it was difficult to raise their eyebrows when said eyebrows were already raised and remained in their quizzical position.

"And….."

"I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"Doesn't mentioning how 'you're not allowed' qualify as talking about it?" Ren posited.

Penny looked at Ren, looked at herself, then looked at Ren. "YES! THIS MEANS I HAVE FREE WILL! I'M NOT GUIDED BY A PROGRAM!"

The eyebrows remained, and Penny decided to join in and lift her own eyebrow. Nora had many questions, but couldn't form words to them.

She wasn't sure what Ren was thinking but…. He was probably used to nonsense like this from Nora herself.

Their pancakes arrived, and Nora decided to ignore that mysterious statement (she had enough mysteries on her plate, and currently was more interested in the pancakes upon said plate) as she dug in, stuffing the fluffy goodness into her mouth. She didn't want to think of Cinder, now that she simply had to focus on herself.

She had devoured almost all of it until the waitress brought a singular plate with a single pancake, with some bananas on top. Nora looked at the waiter in confusion.

"…we have a guest buy this pancake for you… and told me to orient it like so…. Well… 'told' is a term that includes actually speaking."

Nora looked at the pancake, noticing the bananas formed an arrow, which led her gaze to another corner of the restaurant, to see a mysterious woman eyeing her….

With two mismatched eyes: one brown; one pink.

* * *

Jaune lifted his eyes from his book at the sound of knocking from across the hall. It wasn't on his door, but it was loud enough to make him notice it. He turned around to see Pyrrha notice it as well.

"Did Yang forget her keys or something?" Pyrrha wondered.

"Probably…. But wouldn't she just punch the door down?" Jaune shrugged his shoulders as Pyrrha looked at Jaune crossing her arms.

"Just because Yang is Yang doesn't mean she has total disregard for property damage, from what I understand you and Zwei ruined this room with bouncing lasers!"

"And we undid the damage with reverse bouncing lasers." Jaune explained, causing Pyrrha to sigh. All things considered, Pyrrha took the explanation towards his and Nora's newfound relationship… fairly well. Her most callous remark was how she know thought "Destiny is a bitch," as if that was some grand revelation she'd been grappling with. All in all their relationship was still fine. The wounds of hurt were slightly healed, if only slightly agitated by occasional remarks, especially references with the fact Nora and he were going to the Vytal dance together. As friends…. Maybe.

Jaune had no idea what to expect at the dance. Would it truly be friendly? Would Nora… possibly… make a move of some kind? Or….

Or would HE make a move? Did he want to make a move? Teenage emotions are so confusing, and he was eighteen! Almost nineteen! There was like….. Fifteen paragraphs or 10 stretched out chapters where nothing really happens except inner monologues and filler to figure this stuff out! Okay, maybe if he sat here thinking about it maybe….

The knock returned, louder, and still on the door opposite to them. Why wasn't RWBY answering? Jaune got up out of his chair, "should I check to see what's going on?" Pyrrha shrugged and returned to her studies. Jaune sighed and got up to open the door.

A monkey faunus and a tan blue-haired man where across the hall, impatiently standing outside of RWBY's door.

"I told you going through the window was ideal!" The monkey faunus lamented.

"I don't want to reveal my semblance until the opportune moment!" The blue haired man elegantly replied

"Like what, to get away from water?"

"I am NOT afraid of-"

"Gentlemen!" Jaune coughed, "can I help you?" The faunus and his friend jumped in shock, turning to face the leader of team JNPR, standing cross-armed at his door, slouching on the frame. He tried to puff his chest to make him more intimidating because…. That's how you act in front of men you don't know, right? That's what Dad always said.

"Oh! Hi, you're….. you're Jaune, right?" The blue haired man quickly smiled. "Neptune Vasilas, this is Sun." He gestured to the faunus who immediately swatted the hand downwards as he stepped forward.

"I, Sun Wukong, am team leader, and namesake, of Team SSSN, so it is MY job to do the introducing!" He stepped forward offering his hand to shake, which Jaune took tentatively. His grip was strong, so Jaune returned the favor. "Ooh! Strong grip! Good, it's useful for holding bananas!"

"Why do you insist on insulting your own faunus-genetics?" The boy who called himself Neptune sighed.

"Oh yeah, I met you at the docks…. Nice to see you again…. Jaune Arc." They already remembered his name, Jaune just rolled with it. "So…. What are you doing here?"

"Oh… we were seeing if Team RWBY was in…. or at least Weiss and Blake, we have questions to ask them." Neptune flashed a smile that somehow caught the gleam of the fluorescent lights above the hall. "Important questions." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Jaune sighed. "Well, if you tell me the questions I can parlay it to them and they can get back to you as soon as they can."

"Oh no, this has to be asked in person!" Sun interjected, "you see, we're planning on asking them out!" He smiled as Neptune smacked his supposed leader behind the head.

"Do you…. do you have to blab out everything?" Neptune criticized, visibly aghast.

"What? Jaune's close with these girls, maybe he can give us hints! Also….. what team does Ren swing for?" Sun suddenly hushed to a whisper, "you see, I'm pretty confident my team-mate, Scarlett, is…. you know….. into men, and it'd be nice to find him a date that….."

A bitter mutter lingered behind Jaune, "Oh sure…. Ren gets asked about but not me…." Pyrrha really did to either find a date or… maybe not become so self-conscious of not having a date. Jaune knew it wasn't easy for her…. but it wasn't like there was anything he could do.

"I'm pretty sure Ren likes people he knows first." Get that issue out of the way. "Second, you should probably ask this…. Scarlett…. If he does 'swing for that team' and if he was interested in you scoping out a date for him. Third….. I….." Jaune tried to find if he even did have a third thing to say…..

"….Blake and Weiss?" Sun mercifully helped.

"Oh yes, if they aren't in their room, they are either training in the gym, or studying in the library. Good luck." Jaune made to close the door but Sun stopped it with his tail….

Which wasn't strong enough to completely stop the door so instead Jaune unintentionally smashed the faunus appendage by closing the door. But Sun did successfully instigate the re-opening the door by wailing bloody murder.

Pyrrha was brought to the entrance as the tail quickly retreated to Sun's arms as he cradled the thing like a baby. "NOT COOL MAN, THESE THINGS ARE SENSATIVE!" Sun cried out.

"Don't put them in the doorway then!" Jaune defended himself as Pyrrha watched the scene with confusion.

"I KNOW I'M AT FAULT! SCREAMING AT PEOPLE JUST MAKES IT FEEL BETTER!" Sun heaved in and out as he closed his eyes, squinting out agonizing tears as Jaune, Pyrrha, and Neptune made no motion towards him, knowing that moving closer would do nothing really useful unless if they had insta-relief pain killers on hand.

After standing there for a good thirty seconds, Sun finally recovered. "I meant to scream 'wait,' and ask you to accompany us. It's nice to arrive with someone the person already knows, makes it seem more natural, right Neptune?"

"You only need that kind of buffer if you don't have the confidence…. " Neptune then looked up and saw Pyrrha, "…Hello there," he slicked back his hair, "….have you introduced yourself yet?" He pointed and winked.

Pyrrha blushed. "Oh…. I'm…."

"Oh." Neptune's eyes suddenly widened, "sorry… Pyrrha Nikos…. Almost didn't recognize you there."

Jaune could feel the sag from Pyrrha's form by just standing next to her. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile…. At least the most reassuring he could muster. Pyrrha met his eyes and nodded gratefully.

"It's okay." Pyrrha said in her usual robotic fake joy that came up whenever she had to greet a fan. "Sometimes it's nice not being recognized…"

Neptune shrugged and let out another winning smile. Jaune groaned. "Fine, I'll be your buffer. Pyrrha, do you want to come along?"

"If we swing by the training facility I could watch you test your moves on some droids." Pyrrha smiled, "we never can use the facilities properly in the dead of night."

"Then it's settled…. But I'm not being your wingman." Jaune deadpanned as he and his partner left the door.

"Don't worry," Sun smiled as he and Neptune shuffled together back to back.

"We're so fly together, we're our own wings." They said simultaneously.

Pyrrha stifled a giggle as Jaune just shook his head, confused. "That…. Doesn't make any sense."

They walked out of the hallway towards the library, and if Weiss and Blake weren't there, the gym, and if that wasn't the case, the courtyard wasn't a bad bet either. Jaune mapped up the possibilities in your head.

"Oum my Monty I can't believe you have the Invincible Girl as your PARTNER," Neptune whispered into his ear. Jaune turned to the blue haired man, who pulled off that hair color the second-best he'd ever seen, and gave him a glare.

"Don't ever call her that again."

* * *

Ruby was trying to let them in, she really tried. Even Zwei tried, but Weiss held the dog's muzzle shut, as Blake covered her leader's mouth. Ruby was tempted to lick herself free, but even she refused to be that weird.

"I refuse…. To be asked out like that! I will ask Neptune out on my own terms! Myself! I'm an independent white woman who doesn't need a man's proactive action or funds he inherited from my mother!" Weiss stammered as she looked regaled into action.

"And I….." Blake blushed, "….I don't even want him to have me as a date. I just want to show up the day of the dance and present myself, all beautiful and mysterious like….."

 _You girls are weird._ Ruby thought as she sighed into Blake's hand.

* * *

Ozpin was looking at a chart. Tables detailing data. Threads of twine weaving around like a web from picture to article to name. Overhead was the question that was always on the great headmaster's mind.

 _What is Ozpin's True Pairing?_

Throughout the school, especially with the dance coming up, story threads would culminate in the ultimate romantic showdown that either led to many conclusions. Heartbreak. Heart fulfillment. Lemons. And everything in between. He smiled as he massaged his mind with his puzzle solving skills that thankfully had no real pressure. He didn't ship the students because he was negligent of his actual duties, he shipped them because it was fun, and he deserved fun considering all the stuff he had to deal with on a day to day basis: protecting the world and all.

It beat just retreating into some boy's head to reincarnate… or something…. to escape it all.

He pulled out his scroll, looking at Qrow's message again. _"The Queen has Pawns."_ Of course she does. Salem didn't work alone, even if she theoretically could. Nevertheless, she alone was not enough to stop armies of huntsmen and huntresses that would pop up should she just make her presence known.

He sighed. Without Ironwood's army arriving, it was probably a good idea to have him come in early.

He sent the message: _"Qrow, come in as soon as you can."_

* * *

Nora excused herself, saying she needed to use the lady's room. She hoped Penny and Renny could entertain themselves enough to not look around the restaurant and notice her slinking to another booth…

Then again, Neo would probably make it look like something else anyway.

She sat across from her, pulled out a pair of sunglasses she wedged between her melons, and them over her face.

Neo didn't look amused.

"Awaiting further orders, Ice Cream Cobra."

She looked less amused.

"This is Thunder McLover, if you don't remember my-" Nora couldn't finish as Neo reached behind Nora's head, and slammed her face to the table.

….Neo was deceptively strong at times.

Aura made such things painless, so all she did was laugh as she slouched back. "Okay Neo, I assume that's her?" She gestured over to Cinder, which received a grave nod.

"You know, you have spoken to me before, you can speak again."

Neo was surprisingly good at decreasing the amount of amusement from her face at each remark. Nora was impressed.

Neo sighed, then went into her own cleavage and pulled out a rock with a piece of paper wrapped around it. She lightly tossed it across the table, to which Nora caught it and unfolded it. Nora brought the paper up to her eyes.

 _I'm going to hit with the next rock_

Nora looked up to receive a pebble right between the eyes. _BONK!_

Neo smiled as she lapped up whatever joy she got from what she probably ordained as _revenge_ for annoying her. Nora sighed as she unwrapped the message on that rock.

 _You've done well: taking him to the dance yourself was GENIUS. Cinder can't act against that without coming across like a total bitch, which she wants to avoid._

"Well, glad I could be of assistance…. Actually…." _Hmm…. Do I ask Neo this?_ "…do you know any dress outlets that are like, the perfect balance between affordability and fabulousness…." Neo stared, showcasing the rare phenomena of a-lose-ment.

"Okay, dumb question to ask you, is there… any point to this meeting other than to praise me?" Neo smiled as she raised up two fingers. She reached into her cleavage again and pulled out a small ring, with a pink button on it, it had a tag attached to it, that read:

 _My employer uses this to summon me. Messing with Cinder might put you in danger, and since I don't want to upset my brother…. I thought about it. Here. Use it. EMERGENCIES ONLY._

"Man you can right small…." Nora observed as she squinted at the message. "And the other thing?"

The bill arrived at the table, and Neo smiled evilly… Nora looked at the bill, and her stomach dropped as much as Neo's must sag after that many pancakes.

She sighed. "…I deserve this."

* * *

Blake and Weiss were nowhere in Beacon, as well as Ruby. Yang was at the gym but stated that if they weren't in their room she had no idea where her team-mates where…. She wasn't Ruby, who had the scroll tracker. They then assumed they must be in Vale, shopping or…. Something.

So they grabbed a bullhead, Jaune got sick, and now they hunted along the streets of Vale.

"You know, while we're here, we can totally get our tuxes fitted together! I need to look great for Blake!" Sun cheered as Neptune nodded and Jaune could only groan.

"Why did I come with you guys this far again?"

"Because you know Vale better than us." Neptune rationalized.

"Because you know Weiss and Blake better than us, hence where they'd be." Sun reasoned.

"And you never take me anywhere." Pyrrha responded, but with a chuckle. She was joking about their relationship. Good. That showed healing.

That small relief from Jaune dipped down when they arrived at a men's dressware store, which he was suddenly dragged to by a healed monkey tail, all with Pyrrha laughing behind him. Oh, were they enjoying this….

Jaune HATED shopping, and clothes shopping was by definition, THE WORST. How could this possibly get any worse than worst? Seriously, he'd almost WELCOME a fight to break out… he had his scroll to summon his locker. Excitement, where were you?

* * *

"….so…. HE'S going for Blake as well, hmmm…." At least the boy was a faunus, but he was so cheerful! And happy!

He didn't have the complexity of character and the brooding awareness that Blake DESERVED. Adam ground his teeth together.

Sienna Kahn smiled as she lurked behind him, dressed as a store mannequin. "So…. Cinder requested that Jaune fellow dead earlier… right…."

"Yes, he embarrassed me, I…."

"I'm not interested in your 'vengeance,' Adam…. But now Cinder wants him alive?"

"Yes, she said she'd deal with him, but he clearly hasn't been dealt with."

Sienna nodded, "then maybe she'd be graetful if we grant her the opportunity. Let's take him….."

"Yes, I will-"

"Alive, Adam. Alive. Those other three….. not so necessary."

* * *

 **A/N: HAI! How are you all? How's your life been? Good? Bad? Busy? Yeah, I've had a lot of that.**

 **I keep saying that this will return to regular updates, but I always can't deliver, but what I can say is that I'm not done. It's just…. I have to learn how to delegate my time better. That, and I did need a break.**

 **I have felt that this story got a SERIOUS quality drop recently, and became meandering in the last seven chapters. It's why I shifted it to a new arc which will allow me to further drive the story and launch it to its inevitable conclusion. I still hope to deliver laughs, or snickers, or even an amused eyebrow raise. This story, while meant to be cohesive, is still a humor story, and almost a silly love letter to all the weird shit that can only exist in fan fiction.**

 **Anyway, love the support, love the feedback, and I'm sorry I can't update this as consistently as I wanted. As I said, I needed to take a break, and now a break has been taken. I can't promise any frequency to return, but know that I still remember that I need to get this done.**

 **Also, yes, I know, Neptune didn't want to take Weiss to the dance because he can't. Well... He still can't, but he's had a full year to... come up with a plan in the even there's a girl he'd actually like to take the the Vytal Dance.**

 **Also, we've reached 500 more Favorites! I was going to make a celebratory '500 Days of Summer' Omake where Jaune is haunted by Summer's ghost for 500 days, but….. ugh, I just want this chapter to get out! Get you some Zwei-Handlers you crave! Maybe some other time, if there's demand.**

 **Until then, FAVE! FOLLOW! REVIEW! Eat as MANY PANCAKES as You Can Eat, and Have Someone Who Wronged You Foot the Bill!**


	32. Super Smash Doggos

**A/N: What? What long hiatus are you talking about? I…. I….. *sigh,* well, you've heard all the things I say when something takes long, and this is the longest time a new chapter took, so let's not waste time. In fact, I'm going to have a 'Previously On:' thing, so there's that. I'm sorry that it took a while, but I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

 **I don't own RWBY. That goes to Rooster Teeth, with its conception to the late Monty Oum.**

* * *

 **Previously On: Zwei Handlers.**

Jaune and Pyrrha meet up with Sun and Neptune and head out to get tuxes for the upcoming dance. However, the White Fang, hoping to capture Jaune for Cinder, have decided to attack! Jaune is wanted alive… his company, not so much.

Nora is having pancakes with Ren and Penny, who is following Cinder who is having pancakes with Hazel. Neo was having pancakes alone and decided to have a chat with Nora, and gave her a signal ring to contact Neo at any time Nora needs her. What could possibly go wrong there?

Dr. Pluto Glass is still NOT a fan favorite, and Kirjoitabls needs to learn how to write better characters.

* * *

Neo left the pancake place after having her brief conversation with Nora. She gave that crazy girl a call-ring, and the pun was not lost on her, as well as the consequences of giving her such a device. Nora could now summon her at any time. Indeed, she could choose to ignore it, but a buzzing pager is an obnoxious thing regardless.

She's killed some of Torchwick's minions who didn't have their phone on silent. In a movie theater. The popcorn would be salted by their blood! She tolerated Nora to the point that she could let her have contact with the one and only Neo.

Anyway, she…. Trusted? Nora. Maybe trust was a strong word. Tolerated. Yes, that. It was to help her mission to avoid Cinder involving Jaune in this mess, which he would should Cinder sleep with him. He was like that, once you were close to him he would somehow end up in all of your business even if he didn't actively try to.

She was at school, being bullied by people who made fun of her ugly voice. Damn required choir classes at public school. She wasn't tough back then, and she was about to cry. And Jaune just so happened to walk in because his mandatory choir class was about to start and his class ended early, so for some reason he went to choir early.

And he stood up for her. And got teased for wetting his pants when those kids older than him threated to clobber him to dust.

It was the first time Neo ever wanted to murder someone, and Neo now knew it wouldn't be the last.

Neo sighed as he thought of her dear brother. If Cinder got to him, the poor boy could be manipulated into this scheme of hers, to be a pawn in her game once… whatever Cinder was feeling waned. It wasn't love, of course, Cinder only loved herself. However lust seemed to be an understatement. It was an obsession, and obsessions came and went like people's lives.

And if dealing with Nora helped keep Jaune away from Cinder's obsession, more power to her. Who knows, she might be able to help. She did mention she was looking for an affordable dress. It wouldn't be too difficult to take Nora's form, go into a tailor shop, have something fitted, murder the tailor, use the measurements to go to another tailor with much better quality to make a dress, murder that tailor after that was done, and then ask someone to deliver the dress to Nora.

And then kill the delivery person.

It was by no means the most efficient way to do it, but it had wiggle room for the occasional spout of murder.

She looked at the beeper that is tied to the buzzer she gave the pancake loving freak. She hoped Nora wouldn't abuse it. She was the type to abuse such a device, but she also wasn't stupid enough to piss her off, so… It should be fine.

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

Neo looked down in annoyance charged by the irony of her recent thoughts. Seriously? She was just with her no more than ten minutes, what could possibly warrant Nora calling her all of a sudden. She turned around.

A column of smoke rose a couple of blocks away, and Neo, acute to such sounds, heard screams of horror about a fire starting at specific pancake emporium.

Oum dammit.

* * *

 _Ten minutes earlier._

Nora returned to her table where Ren and Penny were engaging in conversation, which consisted of Penny talking and Ren nodding. She sat there looking at the ring Neo gave her, claiming that all she had to do was press that pink button and Neo would be on her way to assist her.

For what assistance she would require a Neo wasn't something Nora really wanted to think about. She didn't want anyone dead. She didn't want to steal anything. And she had no intention of purchasing an umbrella….. wait, maybe she DID want an umbrella. There was that hit song about being under someone's umbrella being romantic or…. Sexual or something?

Whatever, Nora could get her own umbrella, one that was not also a gun, which she assumed Neo's weapon was. She only saw Neo fight once, and it was against her, while she was accidentally drunk at Yang's birthday.

Heh, good times.

"So, is it true that people can sense their internal emotions by looking upwards?" Penny inquired Ren as he stared at her with a stare Nora knew too well, the "humor her," stare.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"People always say 'What's Up,' to mean, 'how's it going?' I assume the term evolved by asking people what was above them, or, what has 'moved up' in a way to their main mental state, and hence something is above them, and to know themselves and the world around them, they must decipher what is indeed 'up?' I find colloquialisms really interesting, and I like the history of…."

Ren shifted his glance to notice Nora sidle back into the booth, and with a brief raise of both of his eyebrows, he hurriedly asked, "Hey! How was the trip to the bathroom? It was fairly long."

"Oh yes Nora!" Penny jerked her head towards Nora. "What's above you right now?"

"Ren!" Nora asked, pretending to look offended, "how dare you ask me about the secrets in the lady's bathroom! Some things are better left to the imagination." Nora then winced at herself, "and some things shouldn't be imagined at all."

"Didn't plan on it," Ren sighed, "anyway, I'm going to hail down the waiter to bring our checks. I'll be right back."

"Can't you do that sitting down?" Nora asked, and Penny nodded in curious agreement.

Ren sighed, "I need to use the bathroom," he said hurriedly as he dashed away from the table, zooming in a direction that, as Nora understood, wasn't the bathroom.

"Wow, he waited for you to come back before he desperately went to the bathroom? Ren is so patient!" Penny perked up and smiled.

Nora knowingly looked as Ren continued to walk out the door for some fresh air. "He has his limits, but he's normally incredibly patient." _Geez, he deals with me all the time, how bad can Penny possibly be? So she asks the difference between Valean and Atlesian culture all the time…_

"Soo… since it's just us girls, who are friends, I was wondering…. How do close do you need to get to a girl before you can make out with her in parties?" After Penny said that, Nora's morbid curiosity was replaced with… Nora couldn't describe what emotion it was: humored revulsion? Disgusted hilarity?...

Aghast curiosity.

"…what?"

"Well, I am unable to sleep…. I mean, I COULDN'T sleep…. Of course I can sleep! I don't just shut off and charge, I lay in a bed and…." as Nora felt her face contort in her confusion, she noticed Penny's eyes take notice of that, "…anyway, pay that tangent no mind. So, after not being able to sleep, I decided to sneak out to Vale, and discovered something called 'club culture,' and apparently, if two girls are good friends, they make out in front of boys to help attract them. And since the dance is coming up…."

"I have an idea where this is going, and Penny, I'm going to have to stop-" Nora was interrupted by Penny leaning over the table and getting dangerously close to Nora's face. Nora felt the desire to get out of the way, but her literal shock (and yes, the shock was literal, conductive muscles do weird things) stilled her action, as well as some calming force: like nutty, autumn winds cooling and caressing her, stilling her tense form.

"….will you help me attract boys?" She then stopped, their noses touching, their eyes practically in the same physical space, and their lips both dangerously close. Yet, for some reason, Nora couldn't feel Penny's breath like all those things she read about in Blake's books (in passing). She gathered it was melodramatic flair, but…. It was like Penny wasn't breathing…

Maybe that weird wind that she felt surrounding her was it, but…. Breath didn't work like that. At least Nora's didn't. Oh no! What if Penny's semblance was that she breathed out in cyclones, that would be so….

Wait, why were they still like this.

"Uh…"

"I'm waiting for your consent."

Nora still felt pretty confused. She knew what was going on, it was just her brain had problems believing it. "….uh…..

"I've been informed that getting consent is important in matters such as these…."

"Well…." Nora suddenly found the words, "….I'm flattered, really, that you would trust me so much after only meeting like…. Twice…. But….

"….and Ren only once, but I already know I want to take him to the dance."

"…yeah, and I…. wait what?"

"….and you should always get consent from family members. And from what I understand you are basically Ren's sister."

"….." Nora lost the words again.

"….and I would like you to help me attract him."

"What is my life right now?" Nora thought she was the crazy one, that life would never be crazier than her, that nothing would catch her by surprise. First a super powered dog, now…. Whatever the hell THIS was, Nora felt everything was collapsing around her. Reason was to be abandoned, entropy is the only true Oum, Monty is de-….

Nora, for some reason, felt like she was about to make a joke too dark for the tone of the story of her life, or this portion of her life.

"He's just so…. Nice! I could tell that I annoyed him, yet….. like you, like Ruby, he was willing to talk with me anyway."

"He is awesome like that." Though, considering that Ren couldn't picture anything romantic about Nora, she couldn't imagine Penny would have much luck. "Look, I'll see what I can do."

"So I have your consent?"

Nora smiled, "of course!" Who knows, it might be fun…..

She felt footsteps come to the table, "well, I'm back, sorry for running off, anyway….." there was a pause in Ren's voice, "…why are your faces that close?"

Oh yeah, they hadn't moved during the whole conversation. Nora chalked it up to Penny being strange and that was her attempt to be 'secretive.' Heh, she herself wasn't much better. She was about to withdraw her face and make some excuse about 'girl talk' until she felt some deceptively strong and surprisingly cold hands cup her face.

"Oh, we were just doing this!" And Penny kissed Nora firmly on the lips, crashing right into the Valkyrie's face. Nora made to jump back, but those cold hands were just so strong. Stronger than her! How the heck was Penny stronger than her, she looked like a twig compared to her! Why were her lips so cold as well…. but they are smooth…. And now getting warm…. So….. warm…. Would kissing Jaune be like this?… If so it would be kinda nice. Very nice even. She ignored the reality and just relished in the feeling…. Warmth on her face…. It was getting warmer. Very warm…

Then a sudden increase in temperature as well as a coming realization of what was happening caused Nora to create a jolt that rocketed her away from her seducer. She brought a hand to her lips which she could feel partially burned, though thankfully her aura was making work of it. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"

"…..I have to agree." A random person sitting across the restaurant stated, his eyes wide.

"No!" Nora objected, turning towards the stranger, "literally hot! Like….ow! That burned! What did you do?"

"I was told kissing was supposed to be hot! So I warmed my face up!" Penny responded hurriedly, her eyes wide, "did I do something wrong?"

"You took the word 'hot' too literally!... Also, how do you heat your face? Ren, is it possible to heat…. With dust…." Nora looked at her best friend, "….Ren?"

Ren's face was so red it could've been considered a racist stereotype to a Native Vytalian. His eyes was also the size this very restaurant's Mega-Saucer Pancake o' Doom.

"I mean…. My face feels pretty heated right now, and I didn't use dust."

"Here," Penny hurriedly got out of her seat and moved to Nora's side, "let me help…" Penny leaned in, but Nora swatted her hand away.

"No more kissing! I didn't agree to that! I only agreed to help in any way I can to help in any way I can to convince Ren to take you to the dance!"

"Any way you could?"

"….let me rephrase that."

Penny didn't lean in, but she felt that weird wind feeling again, except much more cold, yet…. Bizarrely soothing.

Nora looked up to see a small whirlwind envelop the girl, small patches of ice growing on the surfaces surrounding her. There was even a leaf or two in the self-contained gust. Where did those leaves come from? Was their greenery littering the ground of an inner-city pancake emporium?

The gusts stopped. "Feel better?" Penny asked, concern still plastered on her face.

"…..yeah. Just…. Don't kiss me again, please? I get it was a misunderstanding, just…"

"Sure… sorry for…. Pushing your boundaries."

They smiled at each other. A man screamed, "hey you guys should kiss and make up!"

"SHUT UP!" Both Penny, Nora, and even Ren shouted across the restaurant.

The restaurant fell into silence, though there was one stray whistle. And then, there were footsteps: Massive, clunking footsteps providing a bass rhythm to the more stark and tepid steps of high heels.

"Penny," Cinder asked, "what did you just do?"

"Oh, I kissed Nora and learned an important lesson on boundaries!" Penny responded happily.

"….that whirlwind, it looked, like….. Fall."

"What do you mean by…." Penny then paused, and once more her eyeballs widened, "crap."

"….you….. You have the maiden powers!" Cinder's eyes grew three sizes as she pointed a wavering finger at the girl.

Penny stood up, "YOU have the maiden powers? You're the…. Oh no wonder the good Doctor wanted me to keep an eye on you!"

Nora and Ren looked at each other, "the what now?" Nora tried to discern what 'maiden powers' would even mean…. She then got an idea.

"MAIDEN powers! Oum my Monty Cinder you're a VIRGIN! HAH!" Nora did a small dance while pointing aggressively at the woman who paid the excitable electric girl no mind. "All bust and no THRUST! HAH! You're JUST LIKE ME!"

The big guy standing behind Cinder grunted towards Nora with a humorless expression, before turning to the target of Nora's ridicule.. "You sure?"

"I am sure Hazel, I saw Amber use that same move…. Also….." Cinder put a finger on her chin, "searing kisses. That seems like a move missing from my arsenal."

"Wait." Ren, acting as composed as someone could in such a situation, "what's going on?"

"I'm going to claim what is rightfully mine…"

"Can we…." The man Cinder called 'Hazel,' sighed, "…never-mind, subtlety is lost as of this point."

* * *

"And that's basically what happened," Nora screamed as once more she used the mallet of her hammer to block the big guy's fist. His _fist_! How is this guy so strong?

Neo, standing in the carnage, the emporium on fire, Cinder flying around throwing flames at some girl who was also flying around throwing swords that whirled like a psychotic cyclone. Ren was plastered on a wall, recently punched into that wall by the big guy.

After a blink, Neo responded with a "what the actual fuck?"

Hazel grunted as threw another fist which had to be blocked by a grenade, but the searing fire above them stopped for a second.

"You can talk?" Cinder exclaimed, and while she was probably going to do a long speech about how 'of course she knew Neo could talk,' to save herself, Cinder was mercifully pierced by one of those cyclone swords while she was distracted.

The umbrella came out: it was apparently now or never, a bit sooner than she anticipated. She also pulled out her scroll to summon Torchwick. Hopefully he wasn't too busy with whatever he does whenever Neo was on her own.

* * *

Torchwick stood upright as the tailor measured his arms and his chest, weaving to and fro with that simple tape ruler so that he could once more get another fantastic white suit in case another one got dirty. Some people told him it was dumb to were such easily sullied clothes when he was a crimelord unafraid of the occasional dip into the actual dirty work. Some people didn't understand that dry cleaning and an unyielding supply of identical suits were the signs of a truly successful mob boss.

"Yup, the measurements are the same as last time." The tailor stopped his work and started jotting down notes.

"Are you sure?" Torchwick asked, "I could've sworn I felt a bump on my arm that wasn't there last time. I actually decided to start working out. Not that I'm not in perfect shape but it's always good to bulk up. But yeah… no… bump."

"No change I can see." The tailor mentioned. Torchwick sighed, maybe he was just so fabulous that any attempt to become even more so would be proven vain. There was a glass ceiling, and he himself forged that glass.

A jingle was heard from the front of the store. Naturally Torchwick was concealed in a specially designated corner for known mobsters, so that if cops showed up, or people who would call the cops, or huntsmen, or cops who would call huntsmen. Or huntsmen so unsure of themselves they called the cops.

"I'll attend to the new guests, you're free to go through the criminal exit." The tailor gestured to the door that was covered by the most atrocious suit conceivable, tye-dye with random logos associated with every holiday known to Remnant: the shamrock for Sir Drinkalot day, the manger for Shawcrossmas, the egg from Mileaster, the cartoon heart for Sir Hallmark's Love Day, and the menorah for Oumakkah. Really ugly stuff.

He pushed the insult to apparel aside pushed the door beyond open, and walked through the non-descript hallway out into an alleyway that led into a clean section of the sewers where a dignified man of crime can walk without risk of harassment from the cops.

He took one step outside to see three White Fang grunts.

"Uh…. I know we have a newfound partnership but you don't have to send bodyguards to protect me, I only need the one!" He then picked up his cane and confidently slammed it in front of him, leaning over the crook of it. "Or, the two if you count my own skill."

"We're not here to protect you." One of them sneered, "we are here to capture the one who insulted our leader's honor, and kill his human friends!"

"One of them was a faunus!" The second one mentioned.

"Well, we'll convert him! Painfully! With torture!" The third one yelled as the other two nodded in agreement.

"Well, don't let me stop you," Torchwick stood aside before he stopped, "wait…. Insulted leader's honor, like….."

"The one who defeated Adam on unfair terms!" The first one confirmed. "The one called…. Jaune Arc."

 _Shit!_ That was Neo's brother! Well, he couldn't let that happen, but….. well…..

"Is it just you three?"

"No, we have Adam and Sienna Kahn herself….. himself….. itself…." The second one seemed confused.

"Don't call our leader an 'it!' That's racist! It's what human scum call us!" The third one interjected.

"What about They?" Number two proposed.

"Sienna is not multiple, Sienna is ONE individual! There is no multiple facets to Sienna!" The first one preached.

"But Sienna does where a bunch of disguises, with a bunch of identities…" the second one argued.

"All a front, for Sienna's TRUE identity, which is SINGULAR." Number three and number one seemed to agree on this, while Number two was….. Torchwick stopped paying attention.

Torchwick saw Adam fight that time he fought Jaune. Adam was good, real good. He was only tripped up because that cat girl tired him out and weakened him, and then he was surprised by Jaune's reveal of his semblance, which trumped Adam gimmicky one-hit-kill blade. Adam even would've won if it wasn't for Torchwick's own interference.

Still, he didn't think Adam was incompetent enough to not learn from that experience.

Torchwick sighed, this could be more trouble than its worth, especially since interfering here would cause Cinder to turn her sights on him, and that's if he didn't get injured fighting Adam and his supposed non-pronounable boss. He sighed, sadly his life was more important than Jaune's: one must always look out for oneself over lackey's brothers.

He was about to get out of their way until his scroll buzzed.

 _Cinder's lost it. Has extra muscle. Could use help!_

 _Nope. Can't do it. Defending your brother from White Fang terrorists._ Torchwick never typed a message so fast, especially considering he simultaneously knocked those grunts out with Melodic Cudgel, as they were gratefully distracted amongst themselves. He groaned as he turned back into the store.

He hoped Neo would be okay, if something happened to her, Torchwick would admit it would crush him a little bit. A loyal and fun minion was always hard to come by. But when two roads diverge in a snowy wood, Torchwick will always take the path of least resistance.

* * *

Jaune blocked Wilt as it clashed with the blade of Crocea Mors, and he raised his shield to block the following fury of swipes and slashes. Adam dashed back and roared into a thrust that was interrupted when his blade was covered with a black hue…..

Adam careened into a rack of budget tuxedos and was tangled into a mass of fabric. Pyrrha Nikos leaped up to drive Milo into the attacker when she was knocked aside with a barrage of bullets. She was, however, quick enough to bring Akuou up to defend herself.

A figure dressed up in a black hood arrived, face covered with a full white fang mask. All that could be seen was a tiger tail that flicked outside of the robe.

"Hello." The voice said, distorted, "I couldn't think of a clever tool of deception, so I thought I'd show you my true self."

Jaune oriented himself towards the somehow even edgier presence, "you're Sienna Kahn?"

"Until further notice, of course, whether I need a new disguise, or canon provides me with something." Sienna nodded….. Sienna's head.

"Canon?"

"You know, like the brand of cameras, sometimes pictures of random people gives me inspiration."

"Why do I feel that was a bad joke?" Jaune mumbled. "Well, you're out of luck!" Jaune posed with his shield facing the leader of the White Fang. "It's four against two!"

"I wouldn't say that….." Sienna started to laugh the laugh only a Sienna Can.

Sun said, "what do you mean by THAAA-AAAAA-AAAAT!" Sun stuttered as a whip came from nowhere, electrified him, and then yanked him off behind racks of clothes.

"Sun!" Neptune screamed as he pulled out his trident, only to need to pivot to block a sudden case of the chainsaw.

"Meet Illia and….. Lieutenant." Sienna Kahn laughed, "or at least, your friends will. Adam, be a dear and handle Miss Perfect over here, I'll take care of our precious target."

Adam, having pulled off the clothing apparel that entwined him earlier, "but…"

"No butts! Don't make me lecture you while dressed up as Blake again!"

Adam gulped, shifted his concealed eyes onto Jaune's partner, and Pyrrha returned the glare. Jaune grabbed Pyrrha's arm.

"Be safe, please?"

Pyrrha smiled, "you too." She dashed off and the clashing of swords indicated an epic showdown that would be difficult to put into words.

Jaune returned his gaze to his target, and suddenly had to raise his shield to protect him from a hail of gunfire. Jaune took the opportunity to charge at his target, peeking his eyes over the upper crest of the shield to see where he was going.

Sienna jumped out of the way, and Jaune had to arc his shield around himself to prevent more bullets from whittling his aura down. He pivoted and once more faced Sienna's whose smoking suggested that there would be a break from shooting for a while.

Jaune dashed forward in a stab that was sadly countered by the blunt end of the gun, Sienna wound up for a kick, but it met with the shield instead of his flesh. Jaune was pushed back.

"Unlike you," the tiger's distorted voice taunted, "I wasn't trained in some prissy school. I was trained on the streets. And the dirt paths. And the club that I shall not talk about." Jaune took this time to notice that her rapid fire pistol was actually TWO pistols crudely duct taped together.

Jaune smirked, "really? You also obviously didn't take weapon crafting classes!"

"And you're fighting with a human hand-me-down." Sienna dashed forward and swiped with her gun-gun. Jaune activated his semblance and pushed through the blow, landing a stab at where Sienna's midriff should be.

Sienna grunted as she was pounded in the face with a shield bash, but before Jaune could connect with the follow-up strike from the sword, Sienna's empty hand glowed strangely and another gun-gun appeared, and showered Jaune with bullets.

Jaune wasn't fast enough to guard and was hit point blank with .5 caliber rainstorm to the face, and was knocked back. His aura protected him, but…. Oum, did that hurt!

"Nice semblance, child, care if I show you mine?" Sienna tossed away the gun-gun in the off hand, as the weapon disappeared into the ether. The terrorist than grabbed a rack of suits with the right, and suddenly, a second rack of equally unimportant suits appeared in the left. Sienna flung both the racks at Jaune.

Jaune raised his shield and glowed his trademark white as both racks stopped in their tracks. One of them disappeared as Sienna dived to the side, once again dual wielding gun-guns, that forced Jaune to retreat by the real clothes rack, sleeves and ties swinging like frail pendulums from all the duress under fire.

"So, you can duplicate anything in one hand into the other. That's…. odd, but I can see the use." Jaune then felt the bizarre need to ask, "what happens if you hold the same thing in both hands?"

"THIS!" Sienna roared as she ditched the fake gun-gun and put the real one in both hands. The weapon grew to what Jaune assumed was twice its size and….

Jaune took that time to retreat from his position and stay behind the main desk as massive bullets shredded through the clothes racks and the floor and even the ceiling.

"This isn't good…" Jaune was used to being outmatched, but usually he had something going for him. The person he was fighting was already tired. He had his team-mates to back him up. He had Nora and an OP Pooch of Doom.

However, as far as he knew, Pyrrha and those two Mistrali guys were currently occupied with their opponents, he couldn't really rely on them. And the scared tailor that was also cowering behind the same desk as him (Jaune just noticed) was probably of not much help either. Unless….

"Do you have any security measures in your store, sir?"

"No."

Well, there went that idea.

Wait, "why don't you have security measures in your store?"

"That's like me asking you 'why aren't you trained enough to deal with basic terrorists?'"

"These aren't basic terrorists, though!"

The tailor sighed, "I'd thought I'd be safe when I made deals with the criminal underworld, turns out there are different cadres of criminals! Who knew!?"

"Yeah, well… I….. wait, what?"

Jaune didn't get a response to his admittedly stupid and open-ended question when Sienna leaped atop the desk and pointed the massive gun at his skull.

"This shouldn't kill you, but a concussion is all I need!" Sienna then laughed an evil laugh, holding the gun still at Jaune's face, and he was considering what to do during such an obvious time to do something to stop it until a streaking red ball beat him to it.

Sienna exploded and was knocked back, Jaune peeked over the desk to see Sienna collide with the thick window, not breaking it, but cracking it beyond repair.

"Wow, Sienna, if you're a boy you're certainly compensating for something…." A new figure arrived, touting a cane and a beautiful white suit, which he promptly dusted.

"Sienna is a GIRL'S name!" The shrouded terrorist roared.

"So…. You're female."

"….Yes?"

"You inflected like you weren't sure," the tall, classy man retorted, before looking down and offering a hand to Jaune, "what? You're looking at me like you don't recognize good ol' Torchwick!"

….Jaune racked his brain, maybe he saw this man's face on the news? But…. He wasn't so sure.

"What, Neo never mentioned me?"

"Neo? Wait, you mean…. Poli?"

"Of course she didn't mention me, she never mentions anything." Torchwick sighed. "Look, I'd rather not have her murder me if I didn't help you so…. Would you like a hand?"

"Torchwick! You've come to save me!" The tailor hopped up and down, "Oh, I'd love to have a hand…"

"Not you! Were you even paying attention to who I was talking to old man?" Torchwick sneered at the aforementioned old man.

"I'm in my late forties!" Objected the maybe-not-that-old-man.

"Shut up!" Torchwick spat out as Jaune took Roman's hand and pulled himself up, they both faced their target.

The malicious, crazy, multi-personality, and most definitely not canon Sienna Kahn.

* * *

Ironwood landed on the Beacon grounds with a pudgy bearded man and a tall, elegant specialist. He marched in front of the pavilion, making sure that everyone looked at him while he walked, so that they understood his power. For every step is a measure of strength, and if one walked weakly for even mid-stride, a weakness could be detected.

A small form met them in the pavilion, accompanied by the ravishing Glynda Goodwitch and the subdued Ozpin.

Dr. Pluto Glass walked up to them, "what are you all doing here? Shouldn't you be back at Atlas running the school."

"Professor Cobalt is working there in my stead, awaiting your return." Ironwood nodded, "Your research has proved valuable," Ironwood didn't mention what the research was, they were still in public, and Winter was still around, "and now I've escorted Dr. Glister Polendina here to put that research into practical applications."

"Makes sense, why do you have to stay?" Dr. Glass asked.

"Because he's a canon character," Ozpin mumbled, and Ironwood had no idea what that meant. Because his characteristics were as solid, reliable, and at times destructive as a canon?

"Because I'm to help oversee Dr. Polendina's research. Also, considering recent events unfolding, I thought it prudent to discuss things with Vale's headmaster in person, no need for back channels and heavily encrypted data that Valean software can't handle."

"Fair," Dr. Glass mused, "but why is Winter here?"

"I'm here," Winter assured, "to be Ironwood's personal bodyguard and to maintain a good PR network from Vale to Atlas during the Vytal Festival. And it helps that I'm here to check up on my sister."

Dr. Glass looked at Ironwood, "you brought her here just to dismiss her during sensitive meetings just to express the amount of power you have, didn't you?"

Ironwood felt the metal part of his brain whirring in frustration. Yes, Dr. Glass was right, but he couldn't admit to it, "Winter's response is more accurate." The Schnee soldier nodded with pride.

"Well, I guess I'm going to pack my bags and….." Dr. Glass, Ozpin, and Goodwitch suddenly had their scrolls vibrate, and all checked at the same time.

"Oum my Monty….." Glynda muttered.

"It's happening…." Dr. Glass seemed overjoyed.

"What's happening?!" Winter shouted.

"Get your weapons, everyone!" Dr. Glass shouted, "We're going to Vale! Oooh how I missed this!"

"Jaune and Nora are in Vale, I believe, I'll go get the dog," Glynda said, without thinking too deeply about people listening, it's not like a passerby could wrap his or her head around the context.

"Dr. Glass," Ironwood leaned in and whispered fiercely in the short man's ear, "what is going on?"

"A big portion of Vale is on fire, and witnessed describe two people, one sexy lady, and one weird awkward student girl throwing fire at each other….."

"You mean….." Ironwood's eyes bugged out.

"What does he mean, sir?" Winter begged to be let in.

"Winter, you are dismissed from this conversation, get your weapon and head to Vale, there's a fight that threatens to get city wide…."

Ironwood looked out into the distance, seeing the great Mountain Glen shrouded by clouds that hid the horizon from everyone.

Lurking beneath it, was a beast of untold power. A Grimm Dragon. A Class M Grimm, in a major city center.

"Hopefully nothing too horrid happens during it…. And if it does, what will save us?"

"I got the dog!" Glynda hurriedly returned, with Team RWBY in pursuit behind her. In her arms laid a small corgi, unassuming and fragile looking.

Ironwood looked at the answer to his question, with a further questioning glance.

"Woof."

* * *

 **A/N: No promises on the next update. I'm sorry for the wait, but as you can see, I'm sort of setting things in motion because I ran into a pacing problems, and I had to wrap my head around this. It's a problem I imagine a lot of fanfiction writers have when learning to write. Growing pains, and I have to acknowledge I'm going to have them.**

 **Anyway, have a great day, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Fave! Follow! Review! What's better than a Gun-Gun? A Gun-Gun-Gun-Gun! Go Get One, Today!... Actually, Don't.**


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